C&C: A Lion in the Ropes

[driver8]

Brother Martin steps forward, gently taking the book in his hands. "This book tell tales of the miracles of St Cuthbert through the history of Verbobonc.

(It is at this point that Brother Martin begins to tell the tale of the Charon Fiend and how St Cuthbert saved the village of Charon. Aside from being a bit longer, and full of honorifics to St Cuthbert, the tale is identical to the tale told by Johan in his camp.)

As Martin finishes the tale, the crowd grows silent, their faces ashen.

 

[howandwhy99]

Fatcoin ponders what he is hearing. He seems unsure.

"Perhaps you could lead us to the spot where you last saw the creature? It was a week ago, was it? As it is daylight, we should be safe from such a creature."

 

[driver8]

Cort leads the party and the villager back to Tres, describing his experience along the way. "Well when I saw it," he begins, "it was dark. Cold and windy too. My shutters been broken and my windows broke..had a terrible draft. So I chanced it to go outside to fix it. When I did, I heard a growling over the wind's howl-which was pretty loud."


Cort swallows hard. "The I saw it. It was on the roof of another cottage. It jumped off and run off toward the north. It was dark but I had a lantern. Saw it going away, which I was glad for! My blood froze I can tell you. It was a tall as a horse, and it had..tendrils that drug to the ground! terrifying it was!"

A young blonde woman leans close to Norgim. "Aye, my husband saw it too at night on the outskirts of the village; he looked out the window and said he saw it."

Another woman, older with grey hair joins her. "But thats not the worst. At night, when its quiet, you can feel eyes upon you, watching you! Even when you sleep your dreams are interrupted by the cold stare of something evil."

Several villagers murmur agreement with the woman's experience.

As the party enters Tres, Cort begins to point out his cottage. It is, like the others in the village,a simple singlestory stone structure with a wood and slate roof. His cottage lies on the north edge of the small hamlet, but is otherwise unremarkable.

As the inspection begins, each of you spot a familar figure approaching from the west. It is James, coming across the empty harvested fields of Tres. He sees each of you, and heads in your direction, moving slowly, almost clumsily.

 

[scout989]

James Ferdinand III

James stumbles his way to the party, in obvious difficulty. As he reaches them, he just manages to wheeze out the words "Poisoned. Hard to breath. Need herb, Unicorn's Horn." Then he has to stop, trying to regain his breath.

 

[Kuld]

Norgim

Norgim rushes past the gathered townsfolk and towards James. When he reaches his friend he places an open palm upon on his chest and prays for the divine strength to remove his sickness. ((Cure disease)) If that doesn’t work then he will prepare to lay on hands.

 

[Sado]

Yondo

"What happened, James?" Yondo asks the ranger. "What did this to you? Is it still nearby?"

Yondo quickly surveys the landscape in the direction from which James came, looking for anything hostile.

 

[howandwhy99]

Fatcoin

Hanging back from the others, Fatcoin stands very still. Scanning the people around him without moving his head he tries to sense any danger or unnatural forces nearby.

 

[scout989]

James Ferdinand III

James manages to gasp out one more word: "Apothecary."

 

[mps42]

Anxious. Vergart looks at the assembled group warily "Poisoned... He said he was poisoned. Said he needed... what was it? Unicorn Horn? I know nothing of herbology. Where can we get this, and quickly?"

 

[driver8]

As Fatcoin and Yondo ready for any threat, Norgim attempts to aid James.

The townfolk, meanwhile, press in chattering in a concerned manner. Brother Martin finds himself surrounded by the villagers; he cranes his neck to see James and gamely tries to protect the book as the crowd swirls around him. Its all he can do to remain standing.

"In the forest..Unicorns Horn grows very deep in the forest." says one woman helpfully to vergart..

"Not this time o year." adds another.

"Oh yes that is right, too late in the season." the first replies.

Fatcoin and Yondo see nothing that could indicate danger. Norgim's spell seems to have little effect. James moves with difficulty, his breathing coming in a shallow, irregular manner, his body looking very stiff. Speaking even those few words seem to have been a strain upon him-his face is ashen and beaded with sweat.

Unicorn's Horn is something quite unknown to any of you.