Tavern - City of Orussus, The Red Dragon Inn '08

[Trouvere]

Conuld rises from his solitary table, picks up the staff leant against the back of his chair, and heads for the door. He clicks his tongue and a cat sitting on a tall stool near Kurgahz gives the half-orc one last affectionate headbutt and runs to his heels.

"I need fresh air. I'll be back later," he says. As he opens the door, a hand brown with ingrained dirt catches it. The cat sneezes twice. Conuld squeezes outside with a muttered acknowledgement.

A dwarf comes in. His boots and clothes - hairy goatskin beneath a chain shirt - and even his black bristling beard are caked with dried mud and green stains. He looks travel-worn and his eyes are hollow.

"Gildrim Nurazak," the newcomer announces. "Servant ay Grendath, th' god ay guid luck, an' ay bad luck, as it turns oot."

"Ah wis wonderin', daes onybody happen tae knaw hou lang it taks for th' deid corp ay a human an' a lairge orc tae get weel rottit, sae as thaur's nocht remainin' but th' banes?"[sblock=OOC]Exit Conuld, enter Gildrim. There's space for a few perhaps 2nd-4th level characters in the adventure of which he was the sole survivor (nearly). But before that, he needs to pay a visit to his employer for a progress update, and he'd appreciate company.[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

OOC: did your dwarf just ask how long it takes for a dead corpse to rot to neigh but bones? oh, and what kind of adventure might this have been that was a near TPK?

 

[Theroc]

OOC: did your dwarf just ask how long it takes for a dead corpse to rot to neigh but bones? oh, and what kind of adventure might this have been that was a near TPK?

OOC: Yeah, pretty sure he did. It was a "Go in this old abandoned swamp place and find this item" type of deal, if I recall correctly. First adventure I started reading when I joined Enworld. Trouvere can correct any mistakes I made in my response, though I think I was pretty accurate.

 

[Boddynock]

[sblock=OOC]He did indeed! Gildrim's plan is to collect the bones of his fallen comrades and give them a decent burial (I presume because bones would be lighter to carry back to Orussus than corpses ).

The adventure's been a very good one (I've been following it). Problem was they ran into some large, bad-tempered piles of bones themselves![/sblock]

 

[Trouvere]

[sblock=OOC]Yes, you're all correct. Is Gildrim so hard to understand as all that? Oh well - I have a plan in the back of my mind to fix that.

Gildrim made the pragmatic if unheroic decision to leave his fellow party members to their fate. He was the only one on the right side of the skeletons to be able to make a run for it without taking too many AoOs.

Ter-raen and Karm have been dead about five days now and it'd be another four or five days' journey back, by which time they'd be rather unwholesome. I'm not sure whether he'd want to take the remains all the way back to Orussus. Perhaps they could be buried at the swamp-edge home of the Galatean priestess Sister Anemone. But he really doesn't want to leave Ter-raen to lie in the place that the half-orc presciently named the "house of ill-omen".

In any case, the bodies are littered with magic items (I exaggerate slightly) and there's still some silverware and statuary lying around here and there. And somewhere still is the burial urn they were sent to collect.[/sblock]

 

[Boddynock]

[sblock=OOC]I wish I had a character free and of the right level to accompany Gildrim, Trouvere. It's been great fun following the adventure.[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Weel Naxel, human cleric

"Gildrim Nurazak," the newcomer announces. "Servant ay Grendath, th' god ay guid luck, an' ay bad luck, as it turns oot."

"Ah wis wonderin', daes onybody happen tae knaw hou lang it taks for th' deid corp ay a human an' a lairge orc tae get weel rottit, sae as thaur's nocht remainin' but th' banes?"

Weel opens his mouth, give an abortive attempt at speech, then--brows wrinkled, closes his mouth again. He waits a moment before answering.

"I ... well, I can't say I've ever studied flesh rot," he says with a mix of shame and relief. "Back on the farm we always made sure to get rid of the random dead crows before they started to smell too much. Oh! I'm Weel, by the way."

[sblock=OOC]Well, if characters rated for the adventure fared so poorly, I suspect it'd be a bad idea to take Weel along (only 1st level) [/sblock]

 

[Trouvere]

"Oh! I'm Weel, by the way."

"Whit? Och, aye. Ma apologies for nae askin'. Ah'm weel tay, aw things conseedered," Gildrim replies, approaching. "We'd nae lat craws aw goats gae tae waste at Nurazak Farnore, an' ony dwairrrf wha'd die - which wisnae sae verra aften, dwairrves bein' a lang-lived race, for ordinar - wis sealed up in a stane tomb whaur whitever gaes oan efter is naebody's business. But Ah thocht, humans an' orcs dyin' sae much mair aften, thaur'd be a wee bit mair carelessness, mebbe."[sblock=OOC]Weel does have the advantage of being a cleric, at least. And I am so out of practice writing Gildrimese, it hurts.[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Weel Naxel, human cleric

"Whit? Och, aye. Ma apologies for nae askin'. Ah'm weel tay, aw things conseedered," Gildrim replies, approaching.

"You're Weel, too? But I thought you were ... ? Oh. OH!" Weel grins. "No, see, my name is Weel, you see. Sorry for the confusion."

"[sblock=OOC]Weel does have the advantage of being a cleric, at least. And I am so out of practice writing Gildrimese, it hurts.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]Ah, what the heck, then. Provided there aren't enough people of appropriate level interested, Weel will sign on once Gildrim asks.[/sblock]

 

[Richard Rawen]

Richard watches and listens, somewhere between curious and repulsed.
His Curiousity was always the stronger of the two impulses.

Standing, the fighter walks to where the Dwarf stands.
He's given some thought to how to speak with the beaten looking fellow, and decides to go for the direct route, keeping it simple.
"Couldya use some help?"
[sblock=OOC]Richard is a 4th level fighter, rather under-equipped, lacking any magical gear excepting two potions of Cure Light Wounds. Hopefully he's capable of lending some meat-shield qualities to a new group [/sblock]