nerdytenor's The Missing Warlock

[nerdytenor]

Joshua does a quick search around the stone, and finds a few simple knives. One of the knives looks like some sort of ceremonial implement, but the blade has been broken. There are two perfect amethysts at the base of the blade on either side.

With Karis giving the all clear, the party heads out of the barn, Moreen helping Mardrick walk.

"We will get you back to your wife as soon as possible. Don't strain yourself too much friend, you're barely alive," says Moreen. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asks while she inspects him, seeing if she can presently do anything to ease his suffering.


Mardrick perks up at the mention of his wife, clearly alarmed. "We cannot go back to Greensfen. It is not safe. My wife..." He pauses.

"A few nights ago, I was awakened by the sound of footsteps. Fearing that thieves had entered our house, I pretended to be asleep, hoping they would take what they wanted and leave. As I lay there, with my eyes closed, I heard the door open, and peeked out. I saw Elloen with another man slipping out the door."

"Unable to contain my curiosity, I followed them. They made their way straight into the Dead Forest. Can you imagine! The man with Elloen had some kind of staff, and raised it high in the air as they entered the woods. A purple glow surrounded them for several feet. I can only assume this was some sort of ward - this magic was beyond my ken."

"I followed them further, afraid both for my wife and myself. Perhaps the warding stretched far enough to include me, or perhaps I was lucky. Regardless, they emerged from the forest near the barns here. With nowhere to hide out in the open, I stayed hidden at the forests edge, and watched as they entered the first barn."

"A few hours later, they emerged, coming towards me. I followed them back through the forest to Greensfen. Once Elloen was past the forest barrier, the man with her vanished. No sound, no flash - he just disappeared."

"As she started to enter the house, I realized that she would find me gone from the bed, so I quickly hurried around the back to make it seem like I was going to the bathroom. When I came in the house, she was asleep."



[sblock=OOC]
Knife is just a bit of flavor - the two amethysts are worth 100g each
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[sblock=Moreen]
It looks like what Mardrick needs most is a bit of rest. You can tell he has already improved slightly in the last few moments of being separated from the stone.
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[covaithe]

"Hmph. No wonder your wife was so set against helping us find you. We'd best look sharp, if she's in on this... thing, and she knows we came here, we are in danger. Quickly, do you know of a safe place nearby, where we can help you recover and hear the rest of your tale?" Karis interjects.

 

[nerdytenor]

Pausing a moment to look skyward, Mardrick continues.

"It looks like we don't have much light left. I have a shack nearby to the west inside the forest. I managed to enchant it such that it is invisible to the undead. We must get there before night falls."

The party quickens the pace. As you reach the edge of the forest, you can just make out a small hovel a few hundred feet away. A minute later, you are at the door. Pushing a few blighted bushes aside, Mardrick opens the door, and you all step inside. There is barely enough room for all of you to sit on the floor. The inside is completely bare and unremarkable, save for a few mysterious runic inscriptions on the walls.

As you all try to settle in, Mardrick continues with his tale.

"My wife was corrupted somehow. I never mentioned that strange night to her, for fear that she might be controlled by some other being. I began doing some arcane research to see if I could tell what was controlling her, or if she had been in a trance. I visited the barn a few days later, and that is when I was captured. I did not see their faces, as they snuck in the barn and caught me unawares, but there must have been at least four of them. When I awoke next, I was strapped to the stone with my life slipping away."

"I must know whatever you can tell me about Elloen," he says, with added urgency. "What did she say? Did she seem concerned for me? I long to return to her, but if she is still under the sway of a dark power I cannot risk it until I have a cure."

 

[The Digger]

"There did seem to be something strange about your wife when we met but I just put it down to grief at her loss. Thinking back she did seem to leap through her emotions; one minute sad, another moment aggressive and so on. It was almost as if she knew what had happened but either could not - or would not - do anything about it."

Joshua paused and thought for a moment.

"The words you just used - 'under the sway of a dark power' - they resonate. If she were in such a situation it could explain her unpredictabilty. If she had betrayed you to her dark allies but still harboured feelings for you that could bring about such a reaction."

His face fell, even from its normal serious look. "And there is one final thing. The stone - the altar- on which you were held glowed with a faint purple light. Your wife has a small piece of stone which glows with the same light. A stone which she refused to give to us. I think you are going to have to accept that your wife is involved in all of this - right up to the hilt!"

 

[nerdytenor]

"It glowed?!?!?" Mardrick's eyes fill with dread. "I created that stone. It detects the presence of the undead. If you saw it glow, it could mean that an undead power was controlling her nearby, hidden from view. But it could have been some other ill thing merely passing by."

Mardrick sighs deeply, continuing. "We know there is something undead in town, that's all we can say for sure. My wife might have nothing to do with it - it could be that whatever took her that night has left and not come back..."

"No," he says, resolutly, "I cannot accept that she is involved in all this. Not yet."

"Is there anything else she said that might be important? Anything at all?"

 

[covaithe]

Karis casts her mind back over the conversation with Elloen. "She said that she was sure you were dead because her life ring no longer glowed. She said that the stone was just some useless thing you'd made that didn't work, but she was very quick to keep it from us and put it out of sight when she had the chance. She said that none of your magical machines or writings were there, that you always took them with you. Did you really always take them, or did she hide them somewhere? She gave us her life ring, by the way; I think Joshua has it. She seemed pretty confident that it wouldn't do us any good."

 

[The Digger]

"Aye! Well remembered Karis." Joshua rummaged in his pockets and produced the ring. "Here you are. This is yours so you'd better have it."

"And you can perhaps explain why it gives no sign of life?"

 

[nerdytenor]

At the mention of the ring, Mardrick becomes crestfallen. Taking it, he kisses it, and puts it in his pocket.

"It shows no signs of life because it is not a life ring. We never had a life ring, nor did I ever mention such a thing to her. The only reason I can think of for such a lie is that she did not wish that I be found. It is as I feared - something dark is controlling her, and it wishes me dead. Oh, Elloen..."

He tries to hold his emotions in check, but his face and a tear in one eye betrays his deep devotion and sense of loss.

"All is not lost," he says, recovering some composure. "Whatever it is that controls her must have known that I was coming close to discovering the cause of the blight. All these things are connected somehow, I know it. And I believe I know how to save her."

 

[covaithe]

"Well, come on, man. Out with it. Explain yourself. How do you intend to free her and end this blight?" Karis snaps impatiently. She snorts in disgust. "You magic users are all the same, with your secrecy this and mysterious arcane that. If a crossbow bolt flies through that window right now into your throat, what do you think will happen to your wife when all your precious secrets die with you?" Karis seems a bit more agitated than is called for from Mardrick's conversation, which has been rather forthcoming so far. An insightful person might suspect that she is thinking of other conversations with other magic users in the past.

 

[nerdytenor]

Mardrick raises an eyebrow at Karis. "I have no intention of dying, with or without any secrets," he snorts. "I will tell you what I know."

"I only had a few minutes alone with the stone before I was apprehended, but in that time I managed to discover a few things. As I'm sure you noticed already, the blight is strongest near the stone, which indicates that the stone causes the blight in some way. Indeed, a few days prior I discovered something curious. If you take a blighted plant which is not yet dead and remove it from the soil to a pot, it will eventually recover. Apparently the blight must be connected to the stone for it to thrive and spread. As for how the stone spreads the blight, this was a mystery to me until I was strapped to it."

Mardrick began to speak faster, clearly excited to talk about the arcane particulars of the blight despite the terrible circumstances. "My best guess is that the stones use the life-force of those strapped to it to power the spread of the blight. But there is something more. After being shackled, slowly dying for what seemed like an eternity, I began to feel a new sensation along with growing pain. Another person, or being - something connected was drawing strength from my pain. I tried to explore the connection further, but could not come up with anything more than a vague feeling. I could also feel the presence of others, also in pain. I can only conclude that all of the stones are connected somehow, and that I was sensing others whose lives were being slowly destroyed. I couldn't tell where all the other stones are, but I'm pretty sure there are many of them."

"The same day I had discovered a curious patch in the forest - everything around it is blighted, but this patch seems to thrive. The only thing that could explain it was the presence of a particular flowering plant. You'll have to forgive me - I'm no botanist, and I can't tell you its name. I'd planned on breeding this plant at home and propagating it but, well, you know what happened to me that day."

"I have a theory. I think that the power of the stones is also what has taken control of my wife. If we could get to her, and use the power of this plant, perhaps we can free her. I could make a basic potion brewed with the plant which we could administer to her, if not willingly then by force. Even if that doesn't work, we need to get this plant to Greensfen so we can grow it in large enough quantities to halt this terrible plague. Either that or we could try and find all of the stones and shut them down somewhere. And then we'll need to find the source, to stop it..."

Mardrick takes a deep breath, tired from talking . "Sorry, I do babble on, you must excuse me. I... I must rest. We can talk more in the morning - it's too late to reach the patch at this hour before dark sets in, and the forest is dangerous enough in the day."

With this, Mardrick collapses against the shack, and falls into a deep sleep.

[sblock=OOC]
Party may chat or whatever here - let me know when you're all going to sleep and we'll start a new day.
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