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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 476172" data-attributes="member: 96">Ahoke sits up in her bed, drawing her knees up to her chest. "/Who?/" she demands of the air. "Who should speak for me?" She snarls then, and swivels, her feet hitting the floor with twin thumps.Harvester bolts upright in his bed with a low gasp, "NO....!!!" His eyes are wide, the tears streaming down his face...Underneath his cocoon of blankets, Sen-Jyu shifts about, soundless but undoubtedly disturbed by whatever visions have visited him in the night. With the sounds about him, he snaps to a wide-eyed alertness, but says not a word.Ahoke starts attaching her bone armor to her body. "I'm ready to go when you two are," she informs them, "Although we should probably stop and get some food to take with us, along with some kind of light source for you. Oh, and we should get Tokket to lend us the journal again."With almost as much horror as he'd experienced in the dream, Sen-Jyu twists about to look at Ahoke, as if she's gone mad. "... what?" he asks, in a gentle whisper.Harvester whispers softly, over and over for several moments, not really hearing the others as his tearing eyes stare into the distance. They slowly dry, filling with wearied resolve. "The children will be spared, that His plans may come to fruition... I shall not betray His faith in me..."Ahoke turns to look at Sen-Jyu, and then to Harvester, clearing her throat gruffly. "I want to get all of this stuff done so that we can leave the village. Save the children, stop the headaches and all that. I can't take much more of this."Harvester's head swivels to look, without sight, upon Ahoke. His vision clears as he rises and dresses. He nods slowly, a new mantra softly crossing his lips, "For the children... For the Rebirth... For He Who Is To Come..."Ahoke looks oddly at Harvester, picking up her club and putting it over her shoulder. "I thought..." She stops, shuffling her feet a bit. "Oh, never mind." She straps her stone ax to her hip then, and looks over at Sen-Jyu to see how he's holding up."You're tired of waiting," says Sen-Jyu, but with unusually quirky inflection, directed more inwardly than outwardly. It takes him a while to gather enough impetus to pull himself from the blankets that have imprisoned him during his restless sleep, but in time, he begins to follow suit, though he's unusually quiet all the while.Harvester concludes the gathering of clothing and equipment, and turns his gaze back to Ahoke. His deep voice spills from the hood with a plume of white air, "You thought what, Kay?"Ahoke shakes her head. "I thought that your god wanted us all to die. Not all at once, I guess, though." She furrows her brow. "But what you said about saving the children, it sounds like he wants them alive."Sen-Jyu prepares his armor, attaching it with some haste, while the others converse. With what time remains to him, he takes his whetstone to his blades, cleaning and oiling them as he whispers prayers to them in the tongue of his mother's people.Sen-Jyu looks up, once he is prepared. "I will ask Tokket to look at the journal," he murmurs, unwilling to disturb the conversation at hand. He slips out the door, fully garbed but looking rather weighted down by the evening's lack of respite.Harvester lowers his cowl, and smiles softly. A hand lifts the wooden holy symbol that dangles on a fine chain and it slowly begins to rotate. The grinning skull gives way to a massive, ancient tree whose boughs appear laden with fruit. Low words come now, intoned with a joy rarely heard. "My Lord is charged with preparing the Way... All souls are but ripening fruits, traveling down roads, eventually to be welcomed by His embrace... He is the gardener, plucking the weeds, preparing the land... I am but His tool, His servant... It is my privilege to serve Him in preparing the soil of Sh'Kilat for the future... the seeds of the Tree of Life that shall be our future..."Ahoke hmms, and then nods, starting to follow Sen-Jyu. She says, to Harvester, "I see. Well, let's hope that he doesn't decide that I am a weed." She turns and bares her teeth at him in her usual manner of grinning.Harvester takes up his scythe, looking at it for a long silent moment before following the others. "There are few, I believe, that are irredeemable, Kay..." he answers, in all seriousness, "and those few who are 'lacking' will be reborn to try again... So shall we all, as that is but a facet of the cycle of life..." He looks down at the dwarf as they emerge from the stairway, "Once we have progressed sufficiently, we shall move on to the next stage, reborn, our chrysalis transforming us into something new, greater, until we have learned what is required of us to learn..."Downstairs, a bleary Tokket looks over at you with sunken eyes. "I would ask how you slept," he begins, "but it would not be a pleasantry. Breakfast will be ready soon." With that, he returns to the kitchen. The journal rests in its place of honor near the bar, open to the last page you perused.Ahoke sits down on a barstool, peering over at Harv, seeming to agree with that facet of his philosophy anyway. She watches Tokket go back to the kitchen then, sighing. "I don't know how much longer these villagers are going to be able to withstand this. They've been suffering it longer than we have."Sen-Jyu sits near the journal, reading over the two pages that were once Thrommel's diary. "Let me ask this," he says to his companions, "why is it that most people describe Copperdeath as having been a blue dragon, while this journal seems to describe it as being copper?" His words are somewhat slurred from his slow rise to wakefulness.Harvester plops himself into a chair without ceremony, then grunts after a moment. He rises and moves to the bar and grabs a pair of tankards, then fills them with the warm ale. He sets one before Ahoke, then sits on an adjacent barstool. "You don't want one, do you, Sen?" He blinks, "The journal says he's copper?"Harvester laughs softly at Ahoke. "How much longer can they withstand it? About five or six days, at most..."Ahoke sips at the ale, nodding to the Harvester in silent thanks. She smirks a bit at his response, and then looks blankly over at the journal. "Maybe the dragon changed colors sometimes? Like a lizard?"Sen-Jyu gestures to the top paragraph on the second page with a waggling finger. "Here... but this is prior to Thrommel's having met the dragon. Still, it seems a bit odd. Oh, and... I remember that Othic had mentioned the rumor of a secret entrance to the dragon's lair in the mines, and this journal seems to confirm that -- in the statue of the dragon."Harvester peers over Sen-Jyu's shoulder, sipping at the ale. "What? Where it says copper dragons are good?""So... rather than make that atrocious climb," Sen-Jyu says, "why not go through the mines, assuming that the secret entrance is still in existence? It would save us the trouble of getting climbing equipment."He clears his throat, peering at the page. "Good -riddlers-, it says."Ahoke stares blankly at Sen-Jyu and Harvester, starting to look a little frustrated.Harvester shrugs a shoulder at Ahoke. "Maybe. To fool people, maybe, into thinking it was good while it worked its wiles?" A look to Sen-Jyu comes next as he seats himself again, "Yeah... that's the one I was thinking of last night. You might be right, unless..."Sen-Jyu, oblivious, looks back at Harvester. "I'm half inclined to think that perhaps Copperdeath truly died as the journal states, and someone else is attempting to revive an old terror, using the legend of Copperdeath as a facade."Tokket returns with an enormous platter covered with a wide selection of fried pig parts, along with a tall stack of potato-and-onion pancakes. He sets it in front of the three, along with some trenchers, and wipes off his hands. "No luck yesterday, hmm," he says - not really a question. "Not that I'm surprised."Sen-Jyu smiles wanly up at Tokket. "Actually, I think we've had quite good luck, though it took most of the day to make good on what we'd found."Ahoke takes her plate and starts eating ferociously. Apparently her dream hasn't affected her appetite any.Harvester shakes his head, "I don't know... could be." He sets the mug down and begins to eat with gusto. His sleep may be affected, but his appetite is not. He mumbles around a mouthful of food, then swallows and tries again. "'s good, Tokket. Sen, y'might be right, but if something's down there like we suspect, then it may be in the tunnel too..."Tokket pauses, as the conversation runs on, and then prompts: "So you found something, then?"Sen-Jyu nods, "Once we're done with breakfast, we're going to go to the mines," he reports with a grin. "We've followed some suspicious tracks that far. It's too early to say about the fate of the children, unfortunately." Sen-Jyu lifts a fork, severing small chunks from the edge of the pancakes and eating them slowly."The mines?" Tokket seems confused. "But they'd have been found if they were in Krekkit's..." Then it seems to dawn on his sleep-deprived mind that there is another possibility. "The /old/ mines?" It seems this is even more improbable than the last. "They're unsafe - they've been sealed off. I can't believe anybody could have gotten in."Harvester nods once, "Up on the Steeple, we think...Ahoke nods, looking worried. "I'm afraid that's exactly what happened, though," she admits. "But... I'm reluctant to worry people with the news, since we still /might/ be wrong."Sen-Jyu looks at Ahoke. "I -know- the tracks went there. There's no other way that they could have gone." He grins, looking away as he mumbles, "Just because someone loses the tracks -once-..."Ahoke smirks at Sen-Jyu. "Yeah. I'm not doubting you, just concerned that not everything is as it seems."Sen-Jyu nods in agreement, then pauses as a thought infiltrates upon his good mood. "Tokket... Copperdeath's old lair -was- in the Steeple, correct?"Harvester belches quietly, fist to his chest, then pushes the empty plate aside. "I didn't realize there was more than one set of mines... You know anything about the old mines? Is that where Copperdeath was?" He nods as Sen-Jyu asks the question.Ahoke, who was not in a good mood to start with, positively glowers now. "I don't like Copperdeath."The muscular half-elf nods. "That's right...about a quarter mile up, although there's not really a path anymore. Copperdeath near tore off half the mountainside to make it harder to get up there from the outside - unless y'can fly, that is.""Dwarves can't fly," Ahoke informs the half-elf, in case he didn't already know this. "And you said that the normal entrance was sealed up?""Then it's far more likely that Alissa and the others went through the mines when they sought to slay Copperdeath." He taps one finger against his lips while he returns to reading the journal.Tokket nods again. "Blocked it off with slabs of copper after it was declared unsafe - and you're right, that's exactly what they did."Ahoke hmms. "And there's absolutely no way in through that entrance? No cracks or crevices?"Sen-Jyu wonders aloud, though his eyes focus on Tokket, "How long ago were the mines sealed off?"Tokket gives the matter some thought. "I suppose if you were patient enough you could dig around...or maybe heat up the edge and bend it back...it's mostly to stop people from getting in there by accident, really." Then he answers Sen-Jyu: "Not long after the dragon was slain."Sen-Jyu smiles at the half-elf and nods. "Thank you."Ahoke nods. "I see..." she glances at her friends. "We'll need to look into that." She looks back at Tokket. "Is it okay if we take some food with us? We're going to need sustenance while we're down there getting caved in on."After finishing half of his plate of pancakes, Sen-Jyu tilts his head at the trencher, hefting it and asking, "Might you have a small sack or something that I could carry this in? For the road."Ahoke grins at Tokket. "We'd pay you for both, of course."Harvester finishes off his ale and sets the mug down."I suppose I can make something up for you," Tokket admits, and moves off to do just that.Ahoke harrumphs, clearing her throat, and slides down off of the barstool. "What are we going to need? You two are going to need a light source, something easy to carry and light. Food is taken care of. Rope?"When Tokket returns, Sen-Jyu greets him with another question: "What race was Toren, may I ask? Human or demihuman?"Harvester shrgs at Ahoke, and swivels on his stool. "I've got a lamp, some torches, and a minor bit of light my Lord shall grant me with, should I need it... I also possess a quantity of rope."Ahoke peers at Sen-Jyu, sniffing loudly. "Demi my ass," she says, not without humor."Hmm? Toren? Toren was a human," Tokket says, bringing a sack. "I've put some bread and cheese in there, and a chunk of smoked ham, and some onions too. A sort of a ploughman's lunch."Harvester nods to Tokket, "What's we owe you, Tokket?"Harvester thinks about it a minute, "Actually, we might ought to take a couple days worth of food, just in case...""I'll get some more ham." The half-elf vanishes into the back.Ahoke mmms, looking pleased all of a sudden. "We'll get to kill some Thanark today, if we're lucky."Sen-Jyu smiles at Ahoke, "Then why are we worried about carrying so much food? I hear Thanark dry well."Ahoke looks vaguely ill at the prospect. "But they've eaten dwarven children," she says. "So it's almost cannibalism."Tokket returns with more food. "Call it...three gold for the lot. There's enough there to last you three days." Glancing at the carnage left over from breakfast, he amends: "Maybe two and a half."Ahoke laughs, putting one gold out on the counter. "We'll have to eat more responsibly while we're down there."Sen-Jyu proffers a single coin, his share for the cornucopia.Harvester digs into a pouch that appears rather empty, and pulls out a yellow coin. He flips it into the air, and it lands atop the bar, spinning towards Tokket, "Thanks, bub. You're a prince."Harvester shakes his head at Ahoke and Sen-Jyu, "Just what the hells is a Thanork, anyway? A goblin? Kobold? Flying purple people eater?Tokket scoops up the gold, and sighs. "Good luck," he offers wearily.  He looks at Harvester, and frowns. "Than...oh. /Thanork/. It's a dwarven word for goblin, although you've got a funny accent when you say it." He eyes Ahoke as he says it.Harvester laughs at Tokket, and slides off the stool. "Course I've got a funny accent when I say it.... I ain't a dwarf."Ahoke says, "Goblin? It sounds almost kind and gentle. Thanork is much better."Harvester snorts. "Think of 'goblin' as, 'GOBbLe anythIN'...." He stresses certain syllables."Ahoke chuckles, and then starts heading towards the door, saying, "I don't have rope, so if you could get yours, Harvester... and those light sources would probably be a good idea. I can see in the dark, but I don't want you guys stepping on my feet or over a cliff, all because you're blind."Sen-Jyu waves one hand over his shoulder as he leaves the inn. "Thanks again, Tokket."Tokket nods, and waves you on your way.Harvester shoulders his pack and hefts his scythe, "Later, Tokket."</blockquote>

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