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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1384529" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p><strong>Speaking to the Dead, and the Chaos that Followed</strong></p><p></p><p>“By Hieroneous’...” Shaun started, before changing his exclamation upon remembering there were paladins present, “dang that was a hard fight!”</p><p></p><p>Tess meanwhile pulled Siabrey away from her furious beating of the rubble of the mechanical creatures sent to kill them. “Siabrey! Tend to Lucius!” she hissed, and almost instantly Siabrey’s anger vanished into the night wind.</p><p></p><p>“Luke?” she asked worriedly, approaching his form. He was standing, clutching his knees. When he looked up at her, she saw his eyes were fine, though his heavy breathing was loud and a little raspy.</p><p></p><p>“You need to be healed,” he rasped matter of factly behind a relieved smile before coughing.</p><p></p><p>Siabrey stood motionless for a second, and then grabbed him and pulled him close. <em>I thought I lost you for a second, Lucius! </em></p><p></p><p>“Luke,” her muffled voice spoke into his chest, “Don’t do that again, don’t scare me like that.” <em>Please... Hieroneous, keep his mind safe!</em></p><p></p><p>“Like what?” Lucius looked down at her, a look of confusion on his face..</p><p></p><p><em>He doesn’t know what happened... his conscious mind doesn’t register it,</em> Siabrey understood immediately, and she responded by holding him closer. “Your eyes went scary, Luke. That’s all.” He hugged her tightly in return.</p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry if I scared you,” Luke said quietly, holding her tight, “I didn’t mean to.” </p><p></p><p><em>I know you didn’t, Luke... I know,</em> Siabrey thought quietly, holding him close.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Shaun grinned at Elenya, meanwhile, and gave her a knuckle pump, which she eagerly returned. Giggling, the two hugged each other tightly and kissed, after which Shaun loudly proclaimed, “I have the most kick ass girlfriend ever! She is good with spells, good with a dagger, and she fixes a mean breakfast!” At the last remark, Shaun looked at Elenya with a smirk, and she playfully elbowed him in the side, the two wrestling playfully until they rolled down the ridge slope, off into the darkness.</p><p></p><p><em>I’d follow, but there’s no telling what I’d interrupt,</em> Tess thought, her bodyguard instincts conflicting with her common sense and “no seeing others having sex,” attitude. <em>I can understand being happy you just took down a bad guy, but SHEESH... there might be more...</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>I should head down.</em></p><p></p><p>With an exasperated sigh, she stumbled down the slope a few yards, until she could see the forms of Shaun and Elenya, still wrestling around in a goofy manner.</p><p></p><p>“Children!” she hissed, loud enough for them to hear, “there might be more of these creatures about! Please stay up here with the rest of us, so we don’t have to rescue your silly behinds?” She didn’t see their embarrassed reaction, as Tess was too busy heading up the hill, trying to push out of her mind that while she didn’t see anything, it was clear part of Elenya’s corset was already undone.</p><p></p><p></p><p>At the hilltop, Tess saw there was a deepening discussion already between Grumki and the paladins over what to do with the bodies.</p><p></p><p>“We cannot leave them here,” Grumki said, his voice actually a quiet rumble for once. “Their friends will find them. We cannot stay here in the open either.”</p><p></p><p>“There’s an outcropping about three hundred yards that way,” Siabrey volunteered, using her knowledge gained from her wanderings during the day, “its close enough that my father could see us during the day, but at night anyone look for these people wouldn’t see us.”</p><p></p><p>“Lets bury these mechanical... things,” Tess said quietly, “and drag the bodies of the humans still on the sands from the first battle over to the new location, and bury them...”</p><p></p><p>“No, don’t bury yet,” Grumki rumbled. “I need to speak with them... find out who their master is, where they come from...”</p><p></p><p>“Um... they’re <em>dead</em> Grumki, in case you haven’t noticed?” Shaun, now back at the top of the hill, volunteered with a snooty voice. Grumki turned, and with a grin (half orc grins were very frightening) said sweetly, “Do not tell Grumki how to be a cleric... and Grumki will not tell you how to run things on your mattress. Thank you.” The brute then turned from Shaun and Elenya, who had been shocked into silence, and faced the others again.</p><p></p><p>”I can speak with the dead, and ask each of them four things... simple questions with simple answers. Perhaps it will shed light on why they were fighting your father,” he nodded to Siabrey, “or why these two mechanical abominations tracked us here.”</p><p></p><p>Tess sighed, and said quietly, “very well. It looks like we have some work tonight. Strong bodies to dragging the bodies.”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As Siabrey reached down and grabbed the arrow filled (and now slowly mummifying) corpse of the sorcerer killed two days prior, she looked back towards Lucius. He was standing, facing away from her, looking across the desert... his back straight, his head high, but could read a vacant stare on his face, even though she couldn’t see it.</p><p></p><p><em>What’s bothering you, my love?</em> she wanted to ask. As if he heard her question, he turned and looked at her...</p><p></p><p>...and his eyes were blue again, this time with no combat or danger to her to rile him up.</p><p></p><p><em>What?!</em> was Siabrey’s first reaction as she dropped the body. She started heading towards him, and saw that his skin was once again off color. She reached out and touched him... his arm was hot to the touch.</p><p></p><p>“Luke? Luke are you alright?” she asked again, knowing the correct answer. She’d never spoken to him when he was in a state like this, and she feared the voice that would come from his lips. Surprisingly, his normal voice answered, rather absent-mindedly.</p><p></p><p>“I’m fine,” he sighed, glancing across the dark sands before turning back to her with a smile, “I’m just admiring the other place your family calls home.”</p><p></p><p><em>He spoke normal,</em> she stopped. <em>This isn’t like the other times. Normally, he’d be in a battle rage, and he would forget what happened... he’d blank out. He hasn’t blanked out... its happening when he’s normal!</em></p><p></p><p>”Are.. are you sure?” she pressed. <em>What’s doing this to you, Luke? There’s no fighting! I don’t want you to be swept up in your mothers... power...</em> She cast a hurried glance at the bodies around, all had residual magic still clinging to them.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, I am. I’m worried every time you ask that question that I did something... did I?” he asked worriedly. She looked up at him, and saw the blueness in his eyes was glowing even fiercer. </p><p></p><p>“Luke... maybe... you should go talk to Elenya... over there,” Siabrey pointed, patting him on the back. Elenya had been forcibly told by Tess to go and tend the camp, instead of exerting herself and trying to move bodies bigger than her... Tess saw no reason for her to make herself sick. She happened to be far from the bodies of the Countess’ henchmen.</p><p></p><p>“Why?” Lucius asked, “My back could be of better use...”</p><p></p><p>“Luke,” Siabrey began, trailing her fingers over his chest, “please. She’s lonely... she hasn’t seen Shaun for... what... an hour,” Siabrey grinned. “Keep her company, we’ve got plenty of hands to move things here. There’s some tents that need to replaced as well, and she’ll need help.” Lucius grinned at Siabrey’s joke, nodded, heading over towards the camp.</p><p></p><p><em>Maybe keeping him away from her henchmen can help for a bit,</em> Siabrey thought, as she picked up the body and began moving it faster.</p><p>As the party moved the bodies, Shaun kept a count of the items the party dragged off of the men, and an ever growing tally was kept. Shaun’s growing tally totalled nearly 7,000 gold pieces, 19 gems (the best specimens being a star ruby easily worth 6,000 gold, a jasmal worth over 1,000, and a white opal worth 850), 3 usable potions, 11 scrolls, a wand, a magic amulet, a magic set of bracers, and a strange, magic pin. The items were carefully stored in the bag of holding the group had also found, for later identification.</p><p></p><p>More interestingly, the party discovered that the male wizard indeed was the “tapestry thief” they had heard of in Obash. In his posession were at least ten sections of tapestries... but only five sections drew the party’s interest. They were very crude, the first depicting Ananias sending men out to contact “daemons and great wyrms of belowe.” The next had the Emperor sending forth an army, and the third had the two forces, including Ananias’ “great wyrms,” fighting the Imperial army at Kardatic. The fourth depicted the Imperial army tearing down the “tower” at the “temple” where Ananias’ troops were chased to, along with Ananias’ dead body. </p><p></p><p>It was the last scroll, however, that sent chills down the group’s spine. It depicted Imperial clerics hiding away Ananias’ black staff, which contained a demon that “leveled a great curse against House Caladron and the Impire.” Below the drawing of the man burying the staff was a small caption, which read, “The hiding of the daemon lord Graxxt and his stave.”</p><p></p><p><em>Graxxt?</em> Tess asked, searching through her lyrics list of songs of those days... and no Graxxt came to mind. As she calmly tried to place the name, she re-read the scrolls, and hiss with disgust, <em>This man clearly wasn’t an educated cleric... he can hardly spell anything ri...</em></p><p></p><p>Her blood froze as she realized what ‘Graxxt’ really was.</p><p></p><p>“The staff has freaking <em>Gra’zzt</em> bound inside of it?” she snapped. “Holy father of elves!”</p><p></p><p>“What?” Siabrey asked, confused. <em>I’ve never heard of any Gra’zzt before...</em></p><p></p><p>”Gra’zzt,” Tess began, drawing on all of her bardic knowledge of the demons of below, “is said to be among the chief of demons... among the most powerful of a powerful breed. He is known as the corrupter... he lures with lust, greed, power, and wealth, only to use those souls to his ends. And his mother,” she nods to Lucius, “bound <em>him</em> in her freaking staff!”</p><p></p><p>“That impresses even the strength of Kord,” Grumki said quietly.</p><p></p><p>“So... his mother,” Siabrey said, trying to understand, “bound one of the most powerful demons in her staff?”</p><p></p><p>“No, the demon was in the staff already, but she is controlling it! Holy Hieroneous, we now know what we’re up against...”</p><p></p><p>“The very gates of the Abyss itself...” Pellaron said quietly.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As dawn approached, Grumki moved among the dead humans, and picked the sorcerer, and the warrior that had chased down Tess to be the ones that would be questioned. The sorcerer, while mad, was obviously the leader, and the plate mailed, greatsword wielder, from his equipment, was obviously a chief lieutenant. As the nimblewrights had no souls, they could not be questioned.</p><p></p><p>Grumki sank to the ground in front of the sorcerer, calling upon Kord’s strength to pull the soul from its journey to the afterlife, to answer questions about its activities in the First World. Inside of Grumki’s head, a voice enters, one he’s never heard before. It cackles with strangeness... oddness... and lack of control.</p><p></p><p>“Who are you?” Grumki asked the new voice.</p><p></p><p>“I AM STRYBYRON, LORD OF THE DESERT!” the voice announced pompously. “Lordie lordie lordie..I rule this PLACE!”</p><p></p><p>“Who were your men?”</p><p></p><p>“My men worked for me... for money! Money money money money moeny....” the voice danced, and Grumki began to wonder about the man’s sanity before his fall.</p><p></p><p>“Where you affiliated with the Countess Lucilda of Holstean?”</p><p></p><p>“Countess of what? I am Count, Duke, King and Tootlepop of this desert!” the voice burbled. Grumki sighed again, and asked his last question.</p><p></p><p>“Why did you attack the siabrie?”</p><p></p><p>“Him? He invaded my lands! I rule this desert! I want all the tapestries, to hang on my floors! Yeeee....” the voice vanished as the Ferrymen of Souls reclaimed their prize and carried it onwards towards its Judgement.</p><p></p><p>Grumki sighed, and broke out of his trance. As party members hurriedly peppered him with questions, he shook his head. “He did not know the Countess... the strength of Kord was not in that one’s mind.”</p><p></p><p>The body of the warrior was brought over, and once again Grumki knelt over its form and prayed to Kord for guidance and strength. Another voice, this one stern and taciturn, entered his mind.</p><p></p><p>“Who are you?”</p><p></p><p>“My name was Tarik,” the voice replied, sound, though a little sad.</p><p></p><p>“Who were your masters?”</p><p></p><p>“My masters were Strybyron and his sister, Eika.”</p><p></p><p><em>So thats the name of the female wizard turned to dust</em>.</p><p></p><p>“Who does your master work for?”</p><p></p><p>“My master worked for no one but himself... he was quiet strange... very odd... very mad...” Tarik’s voice said.</p><p></p><p>“Why did you join your master?” Grumki asked his last question.</p><p></p><p>“Strybyron paid well. Sure I had to put up with a madman, but I was earning more gold than half of my village...” the voice started to fade, as another prize was recovered for its trip to Oblivion.</p><p></p><p>Grumki broke his trance, and relayed the information to the party. </p><p></p><p>Siabrey snorted. “So in other words, we didn’t learn anything other than that wackjob of a wizard thought he was king of the desert or something, and the others were all peons hired to help him get tapestries.”</p><p></p><p><em>Wait a minute, wizards with tapestries…this must be that ‘Mad-Mage’ the temple of Heironeous sent us after! Our quest is done, which means…</em> “They can heal Quinn now.” Tess beamed happily.</p><p>Siabrey raised an eyebrow. “What?”</p><p></p><p>“The quest that the Temple of Hironeous sent us on; these are the wizards that we were supposed to kill.”</p><p></p><p>Siabrey smiled and gave the other woman a hug. “That is really great. Now we can see Quinn again!”</p><p></p><p>Shaun kicked the body of the dead wizard. “Well, at least someone’s finally going to PAY us for disposing of this vermin. Ow!” he exclaimed as Siabrey wacked him over the head. </p><p></p><p></p><p><em><strong>Warning, the following may contain scenes that may offend Eric’s grandmother</strong> – note from drag n fly (refers to this post and the next)</em></p><p></p><p></p><p>After giving Shaun a wry grin and the comment that ‘your head’s hard enough, Elenya hits it all night,’ she went to check on Lucius and Elenya. She was very glad to see the couple chatting away, and Lucius’ eyes were back to normal.</p><p></p><p><em>Whew, I’m glad that that’s over. I bet it was the residual magic around those guys that made them go all funny. It’s strange how he didn’t lose his memory this time…</em> Despite the fact that Lucius was well again, Quinn was going to be ok, and her father would be back sometime soon, she felt the urge to be alone and think things over again.</p><p></p><p>Leaving the others to bury the wizard’s and Tarik’s bodies, she wandered off to sit in the sun a short ways away from camp...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1384529, member: 15043"] [b]Speaking to the Dead, and the Chaos that Followed[/b] “By Hieroneous’...” Shaun started, before changing his exclamation upon remembering there were paladins present, “dang that was a hard fight!” Tess meanwhile pulled Siabrey away from her furious beating of the rubble of the mechanical creatures sent to kill them. “Siabrey! Tend to Lucius!” she hissed, and almost instantly Siabrey’s anger vanished into the night wind. “Luke?” she asked worriedly, approaching his form. He was standing, clutching his knees. When he looked up at her, she saw his eyes were fine, though his heavy breathing was loud and a little raspy. “You need to be healed,” he rasped matter of factly behind a relieved smile before coughing. Siabrey stood motionless for a second, and then grabbed him and pulled him close. [i]I thought I lost you for a second, Lucius! [/i] “Luke,” her muffled voice spoke into his chest, “Don’t do that again, don’t scare me like that.” [i]Please... Hieroneous, keep his mind safe![/i] “Like what?” Lucius looked down at her, a look of confusion on his face.. [i]He doesn’t know what happened... his conscious mind doesn’t register it,[/i] Siabrey understood immediately, and she responded by holding him closer. “Your eyes went scary, Luke. That’s all.” He hugged her tightly in return. “I’m sorry if I scared you,” Luke said quietly, holding her tight, “I didn’t mean to.” [i]I know you didn’t, Luke... I know,[/i] Siabrey thought quietly, holding him close. Shaun grinned at Elenya, meanwhile, and gave her a knuckle pump, which she eagerly returned. Giggling, the two hugged each other tightly and kissed, after which Shaun loudly proclaimed, “I have the most kick ass girlfriend ever! She is good with spells, good with a dagger, and she fixes a mean breakfast!” At the last remark, Shaun looked at Elenya with a smirk, and she playfully elbowed him in the side, the two wrestling playfully until they rolled down the ridge slope, off into the darkness. [i]I’d follow, but there’s no telling what I’d interrupt,[/i] Tess thought, her bodyguard instincts conflicting with her common sense and “no seeing others having sex,” attitude. [i]I can understand being happy you just took down a bad guy, but SHEESH... there might be more... I should head down.[/i] With an exasperated sigh, she stumbled down the slope a few yards, until she could see the forms of Shaun and Elenya, still wrestling around in a goofy manner. “Children!” she hissed, loud enough for them to hear, “there might be more of these creatures about! Please stay up here with the rest of us, so we don’t have to rescue your silly behinds?” She didn’t see their embarrassed reaction, as Tess was too busy heading up the hill, trying to push out of her mind that while she didn’t see anything, it was clear part of Elenya’s corset was already undone. At the hilltop, Tess saw there was a deepening discussion already between Grumki and the paladins over what to do with the bodies. “We cannot leave them here,” Grumki said, his voice actually a quiet rumble for once. “Their friends will find them. We cannot stay here in the open either.” “There’s an outcropping about three hundred yards that way,” Siabrey volunteered, using her knowledge gained from her wanderings during the day, “its close enough that my father could see us during the day, but at night anyone look for these people wouldn’t see us.” “Lets bury these mechanical... things,” Tess said quietly, “and drag the bodies of the humans still on the sands from the first battle over to the new location, and bury them...” “No, don’t bury yet,” Grumki rumbled. “I need to speak with them... find out who their master is, where they come from...” “Um... they’re [i]dead[/i] Grumki, in case you haven’t noticed?” Shaun, now back at the top of the hill, volunteered with a snooty voice. Grumki turned, and with a grin (half orc grins were very frightening) said sweetly, “Do not tell Grumki how to be a cleric... and Grumki will not tell you how to run things on your mattress. Thank you.” The brute then turned from Shaun and Elenya, who had been shocked into silence, and faced the others again. ”I can speak with the dead, and ask each of them four things... simple questions with simple answers. Perhaps it will shed light on why they were fighting your father,” he nodded to Siabrey, “or why these two mechanical abominations tracked us here.” Tess sighed, and said quietly, “very well. It looks like we have some work tonight. Strong bodies to dragging the bodies.” As Siabrey reached down and grabbed the arrow filled (and now slowly mummifying) corpse of the sorcerer killed two days prior, she looked back towards Lucius. He was standing, facing away from her, looking across the desert... his back straight, his head high, but could read a vacant stare on his face, even though she couldn’t see it. [i]What’s bothering you, my love?[/i] she wanted to ask. As if he heard her question, he turned and looked at her... ...and his eyes were blue again, this time with no combat or danger to her to rile him up. [i]What?![/i] was Siabrey’s first reaction as she dropped the body. She started heading towards him, and saw that his skin was once again off color. She reached out and touched him... his arm was hot to the touch. “Luke? Luke are you alright?” she asked again, knowing the correct answer. She’d never spoken to him when he was in a state like this, and she feared the voice that would come from his lips. Surprisingly, his normal voice answered, rather absent-mindedly. “I’m fine,” he sighed, glancing across the dark sands before turning back to her with a smile, “I’m just admiring the other place your family calls home.” [i]He spoke normal,[/i] she stopped. [i]This isn’t like the other times. Normally, he’d be in a battle rage, and he would forget what happened... he’d blank out. He hasn’t blanked out... its happening when he’s normal![/i] ”Are.. are you sure?” she pressed. [i]What’s doing this to you, Luke? There’s no fighting! I don’t want you to be swept up in your mothers... power...[/i] She cast a hurried glance at the bodies around, all had residual magic still clinging to them. “Yes, I am. I’m worried every time you ask that question that I did something... did I?” he asked worriedly. She looked up at him, and saw the blueness in his eyes was glowing even fiercer. “Luke... maybe... you should go talk to Elenya... over there,” Siabrey pointed, patting him on the back. Elenya had been forcibly told by Tess to go and tend the camp, instead of exerting herself and trying to move bodies bigger than her... Tess saw no reason for her to make herself sick. She happened to be far from the bodies of the Countess’ henchmen. “Why?” Lucius asked, “My back could be of better use...” “Luke,” Siabrey began, trailing her fingers over his chest, “please. She’s lonely... she hasn’t seen Shaun for... what... an hour,” Siabrey grinned. “Keep her company, we’ve got plenty of hands to move things here. There’s some tents that need to replaced as well, and she’ll need help.” Lucius grinned at Siabrey’s joke, nodded, heading over towards the camp. [i]Maybe keeping him away from her henchmen can help for a bit,[/i] Siabrey thought, as she picked up the body and began moving it faster. As the party moved the bodies, Shaun kept a count of the items the party dragged off of the men, and an ever growing tally was kept. Shaun’s growing tally totalled nearly 7,000 gold pieces, 19 gems (the best specimens being a star ruby easily worth 6,000 gold, a jasmal worth over 1,000, and a white opal worth 850), 3 usable potions, 11 scrolls, a wand, a magic amulet, a magic set of bracers, and a strange, magic pin. The items were carefully stored in the bag of holding the group had also found, for later identification. More interestingly, the party discovered that the male wizard indeed was the “tapestry thief” they had heard of in Obash. In his posession were at least ten sections of tapestries... but only five sections drew the party’s interest. They were very crude, the first depicting Ananias sending men out to contact “daemons and great wyrms of belowe.” The next had the Emperor sending forth an army, and the third had the two forces, including Ananias’ “great wyrms,” fighting the Imperial army at Kardatic. The fourth depicted the Imperial army tearing down the “tower” at the “temple” where Ananias’ troops were chased to, along with Ananias’ dead body. It was the last scroll, however, that sent chills down the group’s spine. It depicted Imperial clerics hiding away Ananias’ black staff, which contained a demon that “leveled a great curse against House Caladron and the Impire.” Below the drawing of the man burying the staff was a small caption, which read, “The hiding of the daemon lord Graxxt and his stave.” [i]Graxxt?[/i] Tess asked, searching through her lyrics list of songs of those days... and no Graxxt came to mind. As she calmly tried to place the name, she re-read the scrolls, and hiss with disgust, [i]This man clearly wasn’t an educated cleric... he can hardly spell anything ri...[/i] Her blood froze as she realized what ‘Graxxt’ really was. “The staff has freaking [i]Gra’zzt[/i] bound inside of it?” she snapped. “Holy father of elves!” “What?” Siabrey asked, confused. [i]I’ve never heard of any Gra’zzt before...[/i] ”Gra’zzt,” Tess began, drawing on all of her bardic knowledge of the demons of below, “is said to be among the chief of demons... among the most powerful of a powerful breed. He is known as the corrupter... he lures with lust, greed, power, and wealth, only to use those souls to his ends. And his mother,” she nods to Lucius, “bound [i]him[/i] in her freaking staff!” “That impresses even the strength of Kord,” Grumki said quietly. “So... his mother,” Siabrey said, trying to understand, “bound one of the most powerful demons in her staff?” “No, the demon was in the staff already, but she is controlling it! Holy Hieroneous, we now know what we’re up against...” “The very gates of the Abyss itself...” Pellaron said quietly. As dawn approached, Grumki moved among the dead humans, and picked the sorcerer, and the warrior that had chased down Tess to be the ones that would be questioned. The sorcerer, while mad, was obviously the leader, and the plate mailed, greatsword wielder, from his equipment, was obviously a chief lieutenant. As the nimblewrights had no souls, they could not be questioned. Grumki sank to the ground in front of the sorcerer, calling upon Kord’s strength to pull the soul from its journey to the afterlife, to answer questions about its activities in the First World. Inside of Grumki’s head, a voice enters, one he’s never heard before. It cackles with strangeness... oddness... and lack of control. “Who are you?” Grumki asked the new voice. “I AM STRYBYRON, LORD OF THE DESERT!” the voice announced pompously. “Lordie lordie lordie..I rule this PLACE!” “Who were your men?” “My men worked for me... for money! Money money money money moeny....” the voice danced, and Grumki began to wonder about the man’s sanity before his fall. “Where you affiliated with the Countess Lucilda of Holstean?” “Countess of what? I am Count, Duke, King and Tootlepop of this desert!” the voice burbled. Grumki sighed again, and asked his last question. “Why did you attack the siabrie?” “Him? He invaded my lands! I rule this desert! I want all the tapestries, to hang on my floors! Yeeee....” the voice vanished as the Ferrymen of Souls reclaimed their prize and carried it onwards towards its Judgement. Grumki sighed, and broke out of his trance. As party members hurriedly peppered him with questions, he shook his head. “He did not know the Countess... the strength of Kord was not in that one’s mind.” The body of the warrior was brought over, and once again Grumki knelt over its form and prayed to Kord for guidance and strength. Another voice, this one stern and taciturn, entered his mind. “Who are you?” “My name was Tarik,” the voice replied, sound, though a little sad. “Who were your masters?” “My masters were Strybyron and his sister, Eika.” [i]So thats the name of the female wizard turned to dust[/i]. “Who does your master work for?” “My master worked for no one but himself... he was quiet strange... very odd... very mad...” Tarik’s voice said. “Why did you join your master?” Grumki asked his last question. “Strybyron paid well. Sure I had to put up with a madman, but I was earning more gold than half of my village...” the voice started to fade, as another prize was recovered for its trip to Oblivion. Grumki broke his trance, and relayed the information to the party. Siabrey snorted. “So in other words, we didn’t learn anything other than that wackjob of a wizard thought he was king of the desert or something, and the others were all peons hired to help him get tapestries.” [I]Wait a minute, wizards with tapestries…this must be that ‘Mad-Mage’ the temple of Heironeous sent us after! Our quest is done, which means…[/I] “They can heal Quinn now.” Tess beamed happily. Siabrey raised an eyebrow. “What?” “The quest that the Temple of Hironeous sent us on; these are the wizards that we were supposed to kill.” Siabrey smiled and gave the other woman a hug. “That is really great. Now we can see Quinn again!” Shaun kicked the body of the dead wizard. “Well, at least someone’s finally going to PAY us for disposing of this vermin. Ow!” he exclaimed as Siabrey wacked him over the head. [i][b]Warning, the following may contain scenes that may offend Eric’s grandmother[/b] – note from drag n fly (refers to this post and the next)[/i] After giving Shaun a wry grin and the comment that ‘your head’s hard enough, Elenya hits it all night,’ she went to check on Lucius and Elenya. She was very glad to see the couple chatting away, and Lucius’ eyes were back to normal. [I]Whew, I’m glad that that’s over. I bet it was the residual magic around those guys that made them go all funny. It’s strange how he didn’t lose his memory this time…[/I] Despite the fact that Lucius was well again, Quinn was going to be ok, and her father would be back sometime soon, she felt the urge to be alone and think things over again. Leaving the others to bury the wizard’s and Tarik’s bodies, she wandered off to sit in the sun a short ways away from camp... [/QUOTE]
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