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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Destan" data-source="post: 1042231" data-attributes="member: 12157">The Sacrifice of Innocents and InnocenceIt had been some time since Baden had last felt dirty.  Not dirty in the sense of having his body and armor covered in grime and dust – he had become accustomed to the rigors of travel long ago.  But dirty inside.  It was as if his soul had been stained.  The dwarf disliked the emotion and said as much.  “I don’t like it.  Not at all.”“No one said you had to like it.”  The distaste on John’s face was starkly evident in the morning light.  Clearly, the bard didn’t like it, either.Baden looked away from the Pellman, seeking support.  Vath was balancing on the bawl of one foot, clearly uninterested in any questions of morality.  The dwarf’s gaze alighted upon Raylin.  “Who are we to judge those men?”“They have already been judged, friend dwarf.”  Though his tone was even, Raylin’s face appeared troubled. “Bah!”  Baden spat.  “So you are in agreement with the southlander?”Raylin glanced at John before regarding Baden once more.  “No,” he admitted.  “But I see no other way.  Do you?”The dwarf screwed up his face as if he had swallowed sour milk.  He turned away from Raylin.  “Vath.”  Baden walked closer to the half-troll, his voice pitched low.  “We need to hear your take on this matter.  There are men’s lives at stake.”“Men’s lives are always at stake.”  The half-troll lowered his raised leg and turned. “The Valudian sage has gifted us with murderers and rapists so that we may deliver anguish upon them, as their victims once anguished.”  Vath squatted, his eyes of a level with Baden’s own. “The hand that delivers suffering is blessed.”You are mad, half-troll.  Baden blew air through his beard.  He spun on his boots and looked at Amelyssan. The elf seemed preoccupied, eyes nearly closed, as he leaned upon Margate’s hide-covered staff.  “Amelyssan?  What say you?”The horadrel shrugged, his aquiline features placid.  “I say nothing.”For the first time in a long, long while, Baden wondered how he would be received should he return to Axemarch.  The dwarf fixed his gaze, finally, on Kellus.  The former priest had not spoken the entire morning, not since Poridel had told them what he had about the ‘six sacrifices’ of the innocent.Baden’s voice was almost – not quite, but damned near – pleading.  “Kellus.  We cannot – must not - do this thing.  Those men have done nothing to us or ours.  You know me; I do not shirk from blood or duty-”“Our duty is clear.”“Clear?”  Baden squinted up at Kellus. Kellus nodded.  “The staff still imprisons a portion of Ippizicus Child-Eater.  We must act while we have the initiative.  Six must be sacrificed to complete the ritual.”  Kellus glanced at Amelyssan, his face wrinkled with concern – or fear.  “Again, I say, our duty is clear.”Baden threw his hands into the air.  “My axe is for battle, not executions!”Raylin frowned.  “Not so loud, friend.”  The Larrenman shot a furtive glance toward the open barn door.Vath interposed himself between Kellus and Baden.  “You may save your axe for the struggle with the demon.  I will mete out just punishment to the criminals.” “Baden,” John quickly interrupted before tensions could flare into open argument.  “This is not an easy matter, nor one any of us are soon like to forget.  I do not trust many men, for I am one myself, but I trust this Tower Sage.  I believe him when he says it must be thus.”The earnestness in John’s voice and eyes, so rare for the southlander, gave Baden pause. The dwarf frowned deep within his beard.  The sage had told them earlier that morning that Ippizicus need not be summoned at Olgotha, despite what Aramin had thought.  Indeed, Poridel claimed the demon could be called forth again upon the very site he was originally summoned – and be the weaker for it.  A site now marked by the ruins of an old church hard by the banks of the Bluehorn.Yet, to summon Ippizicus, six innocents must be sacrificed.  It was obvious to the dwarf just who the original six sacrificial victims were to be. And now, Baden thought, we are to do what the Rornman attempted – only we shall send a half-dozen other poor bastards to the hells to accomplish the deed.The six men now caged within a wagon inside the barn had been convicted of murder or rape in Val Hor.  They were not innocent in the truest sense of the term, but they were innocent of any relation to the imprisoned demon.  Such a fact offered Baden scant comfort.But it was enough.  It had to be.The Axemarch dwarf walked off in silence to gather his gear.Disclaimer:  Sorry for the (very) short update.  Would have liked to include it in a larger post, but them's the breaks.  Enjoy your soon-to-be weekend, everyone.</blockquote>

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