The Return (The Heros of Mergovie)

[Manzanita]

Solomon is also very interested in hearing of Karn's adventures. Presumably Karn evinces trust in Xavier, after which Solomon is glad to fill him in on the details of their exploits as well. This Valeria he has never met, but generally trusts the opinions of his friends. If Trolm and Jasper and Karn trust her, then Solomon will accept her into the group.

 

[doghead]

Xavier Roce, Male human Servant of Heironeous

Xavier leaves Karn to get reacquainted with his companions. The paladin attends to the horses, removing their saddle and gear, rubbing them down and seeing they have something to eat and drink. If he can listen in on the conversation, he will, still trying to put the pieces together. In particular he watches Lt Xilif. He is still not sure about her.

When he is done, he finds a quiet place to sit and wait for Master Conrad to seek him out. While he waits, Xavier considers the events that unfolded since he arrived in Mornonas, and pray for Heironoeous's strength and wisdom in dealing with them. In taking on the guard, Xavier knows he has openly set his blade against Uder, and all those who support the Councillor. And in that group he suspect he will find the Barron. Somewhere in among the lights of Mornonas.

 

[DarkMaster]

Karn smiles back at the wizard and says with a bit of proud"Do not worry Jasper. I got there before them, your uncle left with your aunt before the attack. He told me that he would hide in his house in the mountain."

Jasper remembers that day where his uncle finally understood how to cast teleport, a few days later he had bought that house in the Axyrian mountain about a 1000 miles south east from here.

On the boat things are moving fast. The large boat slowly gets away from the dock. A few gards on the dock are whistling and ordering the boat to stop. Arthur stays calm keeping an eye on the ports door and it's two balista mounted on the two towers.

The long boat manoeuver among the smaller boat and makes it to the door before the two large metallic door even start to close the access. Arthur then carefully turns the boat towards the north east to follow the current up to the sea. The king river while quite large isn't particularly shallow. The river is about 200-400 feet wide on average.



Behind them nobody seems to follow them, around the group can enjoy the nice country side. On both sides of the river they see farms which are taken advantages of the water proximity and light forest. For 5 days they follow the king's river on "The intrepid" crossing many merchant ship carrying their goods from Domus to Talos and the other Mergovian city. The 5 days allow the group to socialise with the crew and/or rest, study build magic item etc...

A few hours in the trip Valeria introduces herself to Solomon and Jasper "Hello, since it seems we will have to work together I might as well introduce myself, my name is Valeria Xilif Lt in the 82nd regiment of the King.

She winks seductively at Jasper and adds "I think you knew that before Jasper" She pauses looking at the wizard reaction before adding on a sadder tone "I can't see Oculus, your friend, what happened to him???" she finishes pulling her long black hair behind her head.

Karn stays near Solomon without saying a word but visibly not interested by what the young lady has to say.

OOC Let's role play the introduction a little before I start the new thread.

 

[Manzanita]

Solomon extends his hand to Valeria. "Solomon Kreel." He intones in his baratone. "Do you know Trolm, too, then? How did you get involved in this?"

Solomon is quite interested in this seeming coincidence. That two soldiers from the same regiment have joined his cause. "What was the 82nd regiment doing near Prumen? Do you have other allies in the military you can talk to, to help the truth come out?"

 

[doghead]

Xavier Roces, male human Servant of Heironeous

For the moment Xavier is content to sit back and listen; he has already met most of them in the temple. He is particularly interested in what Valaria has to say, and who she knows. For it seems that Valaria has already crossed paths with some of Master Conrad's party; Master Conrad himself, and the soldier called Trolm by Xavier's current reconing. Later, Xavier will find time to talk to them about Valaria. Whether he does so with her present he hasn't decided. He is leaning towards doing so, for secrecy and secrets tends to have a corrupting influence on trust. But the question remains, can they trust the priestess?

The other thing he need to do is see if one among the party can identify the magic of the shield and sword. But it is not urgent, as Xavier has no intention oof abandoning his own weapons at this point.

Perhaps after we have eaten would be a good time to settle some things.

 

[DarkMaster]

She turns towards Solomon and makes him a friendly smile "I indeed know Trolm and Jraq who were assigned to protect the two wizards. As I can see Oculus and Jraq didn't make it.

Sadly I don't know the motive of our operation, only our squad leader was informed. Captain Farimond" (knowledge history DC 10 Xavier, Solomon 12+1, 14+1) Both of them heard about the heroic soldier and his unit who helped turned the tide at Brodenbak " and the rest of our unit dissapeared mysteriously, captured by powerfull forces surrounding the message. These forces made a deal with the warrior of Hereionous and I must know travel with him to ensure his success. "

Trolm who was sligthly at the back approaches as she talks about the Captain. He doesn't seem to beleive what he just heard. He looks at her dissapointed"You let them down, what kind of deal these forces offered you to betray the captain and the rest of our unit" Trolm turns towards Solomon conflicted, he looks at him for a few seconds and mumble "We got to go back, we got to save the captain"

Valeria adds on a lower and deep tone "I am affraid it's too late, Trolm"

Trolm seems hurt by the news he lowers his head and slowly brings it back up his eyes now again showing determination "The more people die, the stronger my determination"

 

[Manzanita]

"If your captain is still alive, he can take care of himself. Uder is at the center of all this, and it is he we now pursue. You are doing the right thing, Trolm." Turning back to Valeria, he says, "Jraq was killed in the sewers as we sought to penetrate Uder's lair. Oculus left us soon thereafter. He went with G'ror, one of Uder's leiutenants. I don't know why. Perhaps he has betrayed us. Perhaps he was under magical duress. Perhaps he thought he could infiltrate their organization. Perhaps we shall meet him again."

Solomon then turns to Xavier. "Are you now with us? Our path is a lonely and dangerous one. We believe Uder has certain captives with him, the Prumen merchant Frender Almant and his daughter Jessica. We are being assisted by these elves," Solomon gestures around. "They are part of some loose organization opposed to Uder. They won't tell us much more. Uder seems to be after some stones, which he wants to use to gain powerful magics. Do you know more of this?"

 

[doghead]

Xavier Roces, male human Servant of Heironeous

Xavier nods.

"Yes, I learnt a little at the fort of the goblins after I was captured."

Xavier pauses for a moment, not really sure of how to continue. It sounds so unreal, here, so far from where it happened. He looks around to see who among the ships crew might be able to overhear. Reluctantly, he opens his divine sense and scans the area for evil. Xavier hates the implied distrust inherant in the action. But in this case, he needs to be sure. If he sense nothing, he continues.

"There I met a goblin priestess who claimed to be from the world above. The stones, she claimed, belong to her goddess. And they want them back. I met Valaria at the fort as well, although at that time she was not dressed as she is now. There, at the fort, she was the priestess as well. Both Valaria nad her mistress tried to convince me to surrender myself to the power of their goddess. I refused.

Xavier glances over at Valaria.

"Perhaps she did not. Perhaps she was given no choice. Or perhaps her loyalties have been with the goblin priestess's Goddess all along. Regardless, her loyalties are with the goblin priestess now as far as I can tell."

"As for the stones, the priestess claimed they have great power. Brought together, they would give the weilder even more power. More power than we are ready for, apparently. But what the stones are used for by the goddess's devotees, the priestess was evasive on. She radiated evil, although Valaria does not, but she ... she ... " Xavier shakes his head, stuggling to find the words to express the experience. "The goblin priestess did not sound like some Lich Lord or chromatic Dragon, bent on terror and distruction and domination," he concludes hastily.

Xavier shrugs and looks at bit sheepish at the lameness of his effort.

 

[Kangaxx]

Jasper Conrad

Karn's news draws a huge smile from Jasper, which he has to suppress for the rest of the trip to the boat.

Once there, Jasper listens quietly to his companion's discourse on recent events. When Xavier mentions the stones, he frowns remembering that Oculus had the book about them, but refrains from sharing the information just yet. Instead he waits to hear what Valeria has to say about being a priestess of an evil goddess.

 

[DarkMaster]

OOC Xavier doens't feel any evil.

Trolm contains his rage as he hears the paladin describes what he went through.

Valeria stays calm, and asnwers "I guess I won't be able to maintain the secret any longuer. She lowers her head reflecting.

"The followers of Enirdnas, need your help like you need ours.

Uder must be stoped and the stones returned to their legitimates guardian. Like I told Xavier, once the stones are returned you won't hear from us. We will dissapears from your lifes like if we were a dream and continue to ensure that you don't destroy your world."

Valeria pauses for a few moment letting everyone absorb what they just learned.

She then turns towards Solomon and look at him straight in the eyes with a very convincing look(roll sense motive for all) "Indeed Solomon, we must find these two. But you will have to be careful, they are not prisoner. Mr Almat is a dangerous high priest of Enirdnas, he lived too long among your kind and got corrupted. He now joined Uder, probably hoping to fool him at the last minute and gain sole control of the stones.

She laughs at the half-orc surprised, as her viper enroll itself around her arm. "I know Solomon, the truth isn't always the best thing to hear"

Trolm seems under shock. Karn looks at her unimpressed "Mr Almat was a good men, never doing anything bad for the community, always helping the one in need"

She smiles at what she seems to consider a naive comment. "Karn, evil is much more subtile and insidious than you think"