Grim's Scarred Lands Storyhour- Now Running Piratecat's "Of Sound Mind"

[Hammerhead]

Sweet, another cool story. I'm looking forward to some OSM antics ahead. How far ahead in the story are you, BTW?

 

[Grim]

All the way. They finished it in one loooooonnnng marathon session, about... 8 or 9 hours a few saturdays ago.

 

[Grim]

OOC: Cobble's speach is taken straight from the module. The speaker looked quite the part of a madman. He was tall and sicky, and probably hadnt eaten in days. His hair was long and unwashed, and he hadnt shaved in days. Of course, the way he looked and talked, giving him a sharp blade would be the last thing you'd want to do. When he saw Sel leading the rest of the group over, he jumped off of his crate and ran to them, yelling at the crowd for attention, spit flying from his mouth like summer rain. The crowd parted for him. Sel heard one woman whisper "He's titan-cursed!" And then the man was upon them. "And here we have new friends! Welcome, friends, welcome. He will gladly take you as well. I was just explaining to these fine people here," and at this his voice dropped almost to a conspiratorial whisper, "that we're all going to get swallowed." His voice returned to normal. "Yes, swallowed! Deep into the avyss, where we are kept for and cared for by the one who hates us! I can see him now... feel him. I have felt him against my skin at night. He... he will bury us all in the deepest pit!" His tone changed again, to one that was almost happy. "I'm not going back to the mine, you see. Never never never. The mine is where he'll find me, so I won't go. He talks to me every day, and tells me hie misses me, but I don't miss his whispers!" Tears began to roll down his face, slicing furrows throught the dirt on his cheeks. "I don't!" "Corean protect us!" someone yelled from the crowd. "He's been touched by Chern himself!" another cried. The Inquisitor wouldn't stand for that. "Who said that?" he yelled. The old woman who had whispered earlier cried, "Who are you to ask, stranger." "Royal Inquisitor Hollun, of Fhomhair, wench. Now who said that?!?" A man edged through the crowd. He had a hard face, worried with age and stress. His short goatee was flanked with a days worth of stubble, and his long brown hair flowed well past the shoulders of his fine fur cloak. "I did. I'm Lucius Krekket, and I'll say whatever I damn well please to you vagabond, be you the Black Dragon himself!" "By what right do you speak the name of a titan in vain, insult the honor of the Charduni Church, and spit in the face of your king? I should bring you before his highness King Virduk, who is no more a black dragon than you are a Hound Archon." "How dare you!" "How dare you!" "Father!" cried Celia. "Enough! Mr. Krekket, please refrain from saying a titan's name. It brings thier evil upon you and those around you, and no one wants that." The madman, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up. "Yes. Evil. Yeeeeesssssss. Evil will rot our flesh, and trap us in its belly, and whisper. Whiiiiisssssssper! Always little breezes in your ear!" "Shut up Cobble!" And then Krekket drew a sword.

 

[Grim]

The whole crowd stepped back a pace, while the party held thier ground. Cobble started crying again.

"Stop it!" commanded Celia, as she unsheathed her own blades.

Krekket didn't back down. "Make me! This titantainted has lived long enough!" He took a step towards Cobble.

"Madness!" yelled Cobble. "You can't kill me! Only he can kill me! Unless... you ARE him!"

"Don't accuse me of evil, madman!"

CLAP! Davin clapped his hands together, and a golden orb surrounded them. Faster than it took to tell it, it imploded violently. CRACK!

"ENOUGH! There will be no murder in this town! As a Commander Battlemage of the Royal Army, I command you to cease this madness. Krekket, sheath your sword. Celia, you too. And you," he pointed to the crowd, "go home, before I have you all arrested. Cobble, come with us."

No one moved.

Finally, grudgingly, Krekket sheathed his sword. "You live this time, Cobble. But if you dare slight me again, this blade will see blood. Good day to you all." He turned, his cape swirling, and stormed off.

Davin turned to Sel, who was presently trying to slip away towards the inn.

"Celia owes you a defenistration."

"But I didn't do anything!" the small man protested.

Celia grinned wickedly. "I know."

 

[Grim]

OOC: This part was a bit boring and drawn out for both me and the group, so I am sort of summarizing it, rather than give a few pages of dialoge.

The party walked across the square to the inn. The common room had a healthy load of merchants and townsfolk drinking, talking, and singing. Celia talked to the barkeep, a muscled, middleaged half elf nammed Tokket.

She asked if there is any place Cobble can stay, perhaps a night in the local jail, and Tokket offered to give him a room for the night, one without windows or sharp corners. They asked Cobble if this was good with him, and he mumbled something about "death to everyone." They put him in his room and locked the door.

Davin turned out to have a strong appetite for drink, and talked aimiably to Tokket for a long while, growing progressivly more drunk. Meanwhile, Inquisitor Hollun ordered a light dinner of mashed potatos and roast lamb, while Sel ordered two of the same. Celia sipped from a mug of apple cider quietly, watching the surrounding patrons. After a time, Davin wandered over, and explained what he had learned from Tokket during thier conversaton.

-The children who had gone missing were two boys and a girl.

-"The Heroes of the Bell" , the local adventuring group (he didnt ask thier names), has also gone missing. They had sworn to find the chilkdren, and left town while tracking down one of them, never to renturn.

-The water may be to blame for the headaches and dreams. Tokket recomends a fine Shelzarian wine that makes a suitible replacement. He also thinks that someone in the town may have offended Erias, the demigod of dreams.

-Most people in town work at "The New Mine", on the slopes of Steeple Moutain, which is owned by the brash Krekket, who also owns one or two of the founderies. He's always been a bully, but he has good buisness sense, and because of him the town has prospered well.

-Wyrmcall, the bell in the Belltower outside, is used to call town meetings and warn people of danger. It used to be sounded when Copperdeath was coming. It's so loud that it actually killed a drunk who passed out up there, and shattered his wine bottle.

-Utrish, the old wise woman, and a good friend of Tokket's, who lives on the mountain side of town, has prophesised that the headaches and dreams will end within the week, and people believe her, as she has been right before. She once told Farmer Othic that his milk cow would go to the "voice of metal", and sure enough, a few days later, Othic's cow was found on the platform next to Wyrmcall, scared to death and unable to get back down the stairs.

-Finally, Tokket's own mother was a bard who helped kill Copperdeath. Tokket never got along with her until just before her death, but he kept some of her momentos, including Copperdeath's two great horns, some of his teeth (still sharp), and his claws, in addition to a sundered greataxe and a diary belonging to one of her friends.

-Tokket gladly showed Davin the diary, and he recopied a piece of it here:

"I don't know what the date is, but it seems like late in the year. I've been working with bloody troglodytes- trogs! - to mine and forge copper and bronze for Goran knows how long. By his half beard! I'm going to try to find the others, maybe to snap them out of that damn beasts enchantment and stop it once and for all. It's got this whole town working as its slaves. We'll put a stop to that. I'm not sure if we'll come in up the mountainside or try to sneak throught the mine tunnels where we saw it before. The moutainside seems more dangerous and open. May Goran bless my endevor and deliver my soul if we don't succeed, as I'll not truckle to it once again."

-Finally, right as they had finished dinner, they heard a deep *BOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG. BOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG* that echoed in thier chests. Even inside, the bell seemed unnaturally loud. Messangers began calling out "Town meeting in the Plaza, town meeting in the Plaza!" Everyone in the Inn began moving towards the door. The party followed.

the mayor Hob Waterman, along with Lucius and his wife Phillippa Krekket, and someone who could only be the captain of the town guards, were standing on a platform at the base of Wyrmcall's tower. There was a gathering crowd, which the mayor was trying to quiet, with little success. Just as the party joined the crowd, the mayor began to speak.

Some were worried about the children missing, and he assured them that the Heroes of the Bell were quite busy looking for them. Some were worried about the Heroes themselves missing, and he assured them that they were investigating outside of town, and they would be back soon enough. It was about then that he noticed the unfamiar faces of the party, and asked thier buisness in town. Before Davin could get a hand over they small man's mouth, Sel told the mayor "We're here to find the children AND the heroes, AND fix the headaches and dreams!". The crowd murmered, and the mayor was skeptical, but told the party to talk to him after the meeting. The rest of the party said some harsh things to Sel once the crowds attention was off them. Some ask about the dangers of mining at such a time, and Krekket loudly insists that the copper must flow. Nightmares are no excuse to miss quota. Many talk of the headaches and dreams, and of amimals acting strangly. Hob points out that the animals are getting headaches to, but by now both the Inquisitor and his daughter are pretty sure the mayor is grasping at straws.

After the meeting, Hob told the party that any help would be appreciated, that if they want to know more about the headaches and nightmares, they should probably talk to the wise woman, who is knowledgable on the subject. Finally, he asked them to meet him in his office the following afternoon.

They agree, and upon returning to the inn, get a room and fall asleep for the night, thier minds troubled.

Each dreams a different dream, but they are all disturbing and dark.

The morning brings something far worse: death.

 

[e3_Jeb]

Hey Grim, I don't want to press or insult, but where've you been? There are people who very much appreciate your story... Do please continue...

 

[Grim]

Sorry about that. My school just gave me a huge battery of testing over the last month, from SATs to APs, to STAR tests. I had, well, no time at all. But now I do... so... I'll get writing.

 

[Grim]

The barn was dusty and the wet, musky smell of horses was everywhere.

The sun was already high in the sky, and flies circled the body, which had already been there for hours, lying face down in the soiled hay.

Hollun rolled the man over and looked at his face, what little there was left of it. It could only be Othic. Horribly, there was a bridle bit jammed into what was left of his throut.

Early that morning, Tal, one of the farmhands who worked for Othic on occassion, had found the body, and run to the inn, where he had roused not only the town guards, but the party as well. They had dressed quickly, and hurried back to Othics farm, arriving long before the town guards.

Sel was grim. He hated the sight of human blood. So sticky, so hard to clean. "I think that's a hoofprint in his forehead. I bet something paniced the horses, and they trampled him to death."

Celia stared at him, dumbfounded. "Then explain why there is a bit in his throut."

"Bad timing?"

Davin sighed. "Not now, Sel. Othic was a good man, and this death was obviously not an accident. Still, I think we should take a look at the horses.

Hollun took his cloak off and draped it over Othic. He stood. "They are out in the fields, I saw them as we came in."

"Horses again!" Sel was suddenly happy, and just as suddenly sad. "But no more stew... ever."

They left the barn, and walked out onto the field.

The herd was scattered along the furthest edge of the field, except for two horses, a brown and a black, who were grazing quietly about half way down. The group walked straight at them. When Sel got about 50 feet away, he stopped, and the others stopped with him.

"That's Blaze and Broadsword. And there's blood all over thier hooves."

Celia spoke. "Othic may have been right. Those two were devil-born."

Sel was doubtful. "It could have been an accident. You want me to bring them over here. I caught them once before."

"We all go, or no one goes," said Davin.

Celia was not impressed. "They're just horses."

That didn't discourage Sel. "Fine. I'll get them."

He drew out his rope again, and eased his way towards the horses, walking as non-threateningly as possible. When he got within a few strides of the black one, Broadsword, something strange happened. Blaze turned and looked straight into Sel's eyes. Sel felt as if there was a tunnel between them, as if those big, soft, watery eyes were the only thing in the world, and that he would do anything for them.

Blaze whispered into his mind. "Two-legs-with-rope. I know you. Now you will feel as I feel. Rope yourself, as you did me."

"Yes, sir." And Sel slipped the rope around his neck.

Another mind-voice spoke. A deeper, angrier voice. "And now feel the rope bite, two-legs."

The tunnel between Sel and Blaze broke suddenly. This was due less to Broadsword's mental intrusion, as to the fact that he had grasped the rope around Sel's neck with his mouth, and yanked it, hard.

The first mind-voice spoke again. "Goodbye, two-legs." The last thing Sel saw before the darkness came was Blaze's hoof, rising straight into his face.