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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2130095" data-attributes="member: 18280">"You have until noon to decide," the miller said, addressing the villagers. "Let me help you as I have in the past, or place your trust in these monsters and murderers." He swept a hand toward the adventurers: scarred elf with bow drawn, goblin, huge and gore-covered half-orc, dwarf enraged and charging. Then Dain was upon the miller, fists striking unresisting flesh. As the miller went down under Dain's blows, the dwarf could hear him laughing quietly.As things got out of hand, Maldordo stepped quickly over to Amalric.  The faerie cat silently watched events unfold.  For once, he was not grinning, although his teeth were partly bared.  Maldordo flexed his fingers.  He hadn't assumed his felinid form since before winter started, and he longed for having sharp teeth and claws.  Rationally, though, he knew how the surounding townsfolk would react to such a transformation, and he tried to push his instincts from his conscious thoughts.Shortly thereafter, the church door opened, and Horsom looked out on the scene.  He stepped into the churchyard and stopped dead in his tracks.  Between Dain pummeling the miller as he lay laughing, not defending himself, Selanil with his bow drawn and pointed at the villagers, and Glom weeping quietly, Horsom was left completely flabbergasted. Kregor approached the scene slowly, as not to cause anybody fear.  Even so, the villagers were visibly more nervous.  Once he got there, Kregor looked down as Dain pummeled the miller. "I was gone for 10 minutes..." Horsom said unbelievingly.  "With what honeyed words did Maldordo grace this assembly?" Gathering his wits, Horsom sprang into action, running for the dwarf. Seeing that none of the villagers had immediately jumped to the miller's aid, he formulated a quick plan.  Amalric had obviously been giving the church a much-needed cleaning, and there were still buckets of water near the front.  Horsom grabbed one, not worrying overmuch how clean the water might be.  Upon arriving at the one-sided melee, he emptied it onto the dwarf and hapless miller, more to save the miller's miserable life than anything else. Seeing what Horsom was doing, Kregor stepped back to avoid getting splashed...although, after his night in the barrow, the water could have done little harm.OOG:  Sorry, but a well in a churchyard near burial sites is just too icky.    <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> "How is this helping us to catch the real foe here, the manticore?" Horsom roared, flinging the bucket to the ground.  Many of the villagers backed away nervously.  "We," Horsom continued, indicating his companions with a sweep of his arm, "have been tasked by the Church with destroying the beast. Whether the miller's blood sacrifices to Aulshaka have drawn this evil creature to your town is a matter we can discuss after it's been killed. For now, we must seek vengeance for our dead."The shock of the cold water brought Dain out of his rage.  He paused to spit on the miller one last time before releasing the miller and rising. "Someone get this maggot out of my sight," Dain hissed through clenched teeth.Horsom eyed the miller, who chuckled quietly as he lay bruised and bleeding. "What's so funny? My village has lost many to this beast also, and I'm not laughing."Kregor shook his head. "The sacrificing of children has made this man insane. He is delusional and I fear his rantings will do no more good to this town. I almost pity him."Dain turned to the villagers, shaking his head.  "Do not follow this pagan, the only path he knows is the path to ruin. The church will destroy the beast that has plagued your village, and then will cleanse this town of the miller's taint."With that said, Dain stomped into the church without another word. The miller coughed and tried to rise.  After a second, one of the villagers -- Goodman Holmwyn -- went to help the miller.  "Thank you," the miller said as, with help, he rose.  Upright, he was seized by a spate of racking coughs.  Most of the villagers seemed uncertain what to do."Now you've seen," the miller said.  He glanced at the gore-spattered Kregor, and his eyes slid away.  He might have been willing to take one beating, but he didn't seem willing to provoke another.  "Now you've seen.  Are these heroes the solution to our problems, or are we multiplying our woes?  Think well on that one's actions..." he nodded toward the church, where Dain had gone "...as well as his words.  These fine gentlemen....these heroes will cleanse the village, I have no doubt.  But will Kell's Reach survive it?"Within the church, Dain marched to the front and began to pray, asking for forgiveness for losing his temper and for spells that would help destroy the beast.Outside the church, Goodman Holmwyn and a few others gave the miller support as he moved away.  Finding his strength, the miller called back, "The mill at noon," and had another coughing fit.</blockquote>

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