[Lakelands] Six For Adventure

[maddmic]

Kregor swings his head around to the sound of the voice. His thoughts on the miller seem to disappear as he is now concentrated on what he believes is the true threat.

He steps past Horsom and looks into the darkness. "Perhaps we should be discussing your role here. Why do you terroize this town and the land around it? If it is because these are your hunting grounds, then be gone and find another field to harvest your sheep from. If your reasoning is only treachery, then be prepared to meet your death, for I have come to stop you.'

With that, he unlimbers his bastard sword and stands ready to receive an attack.


OOC:
This is assuming that it's the manticore. If not, he just made that speach for nothing. Also, how far are we away from the mill? Kregor has 60' darkvision, so if there's anything to be seen, he'll let the others know. He's prepared for this battle, so if it is the manticore, I'd like for him to be able to react to the beast if it looks as though it will engage the party. Kregor's first action would be Bull's Strength.

 

[Samuel Leming]

From the direction of the mill came a laugh, like bells ringing within an organ's deepest notes. "Riddle me this," said a nonhuman voice, from out of the darkness. "Why did it take three children? Why were the first two not enough?"

Upon hearing the strange voice Maldordo sighs and drops the sausage on the chair. He then hops down and runs over to the open door to peer out between the miller's legs.

After recalling what his mother told him of sorcery and the old ways, Maldordo uses the feline tongue to call out the following into the night: "Because a passage of import requires three rites of passage, not two. This foolish miller requested the passage from the death of winter into the birth of spring, thus requiring the three rites of passage in the form of these disgusting sacrifices. Was this not the old way?"

Maldordo has no idea if manticores, or whatever this is out there, can speak the feline tongue, but since he's limited to his beast languages in this form, he may as well try that.

 

[Raven Crowking]

As he caught sight of Glom, the miller's eyes grew wider yet. "Gods preserve us! A goblin!" he cried. He tried to quickly step back and shut the door, but he got tangled up in the cat peering between his legs and lost his balance. As Maldordo scrambled out of the way, the miller landed on the seat of his pants with a heavy "Whuff!"

The voice from the darkness came again, its laughter all sonorous organ notes and piping bells. "Be careful how you treat my brother," it said. As the moon worked free of the clouds, you can now see what the miller saw -- a bulky shadow crouched atop the mill, some 50 yards away down a shallowly sloped hill. "I can always scent a fellow flesh-eater, and I shall be wroth if you harm him." The creature chuckled again. "Not that you care for my anger. Not yet."

 

[wolfheart]

As Dain spins about to face the new threat, he wonders who the manticore is refering to as the flesh-eater, maldordo or the miller. He raises his shield in defense and looks around to get a strategic sense of the land around the mill.

"That is a question we would like answered, also," Dain shouts in the direction of the manticore, "But your coming has taken those questions from my mind at present. As my large friend has said, if this just be your hunting grounds then begone, but if the actions of this winter brought you hence, then you and I shall have more than words this night."

"Of course, if this is a riddle that you wish answered, than I shall drag the miller out here to give it. But I shall not let you harm him, the law and the church have claim to his fate."

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

As Dain spins about to face the new threat, he wonders who the manticore is refering to as the flesh-eater, maldordo or the miller.[/COLOR]

OOC: Or Glom. My money's on Maldordo though.

 

[Samuel Leming]

After dodging out from under the miller's deadly falling backside, Maldordo, in a momment of meanness, flicks his tail at the miller in emulation of a manticore as the lout looks about for what tripped him. Maldordo then dashes outside, only stopping to look around once he's sure he's out from under anyone's hulking feet.

Turning towards the manticore, Maldordo once again calls out in the tongue of cats, "I can smell you all the way down here too. Since we've both got a good wiff of each other, I hope we can dispense with the traditional sniffing of each other's hindquarters."

OOC: So much for Maldordo sneaking up on the manticore...

 

[wolfheart]

Dain gives a quick look at Maldordo as the cat erupts into a string of mewing and hissing. He grips Tor-Angol a little tighter, hoping the cat is not insulting the manticore and baiting it into launching an attack.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

As Horsom ponders the words from the darkness, a chill creeps through his veins. "In olden times, Aulshaka was bribed with the blood of children." The warrior was suddenly fearful of what he was dealing with here. Ancient terrors rose up unbidden within him, and his suddenly sweaty fingers regripped themselves around his bow. "What are you?"

 

[Krug]

The hair on Glom's back starts to prickle, as static seems to flow around them. But the target is too far.. Wait... wait, he tells himself.

 

[Raven Crowking]

As Dain spins about to face the new threat, he wonders who the manticore is refering to as the flesh-eater, maldordo or the miller. He raises his shield in defense and looks around to get a strategic sense of the land around the mill.

The mill is to the north of the cottage. There is about 50 yards between the cottage and the mill, sloping gently downhill. The mill is two stories high, placing the creature slightly above eye level. The mill stands between you and the millpond, which spreads out to the west, your left. A stream from the west enters the mill pond, providing the water needed to turn the millwheel as it exits on the far side of the mill.

The area between the mill and the cottage is mostly grassy -- the spring grass is still low and green, though the dry stalks from last year show that the area is mown to about knee high in the fall. Wildflowers and weeds are interspersed with the grass. There is some cut wood piled up in front of the cottage along the east side of the cottage; a wood shed has been built using the eastern cottage wall as support. The wood shed is made of felled, rough-cut timbers, whereas the cottage is made of stone and thatch-roofed.

As Horsom ponders the words from the darkness, a chill creeps through his veins. "In olden times, Aulshaka was bribed with the blood of children." The warrior was suddenly fearful of what he was dealing with here. Ancient terrors rose up unbidden within him, and his suddenly sweaty fingers regripped themselves around his bow. "What are you?"

"I am your death, come to you on dark-spread wings." The dark shape laughed again, sonorous and shrill at the same time. It spread dark, bat-like wings against a deep blue sky, skudded with clouds. "Flee now, while you yet have a chance, and I may spare you. I have fed often enough on dwarf in my lifetime. Or I may not spare you, as I choose."