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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 2255755" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #311] Bittersweet[/PLAIN]The centaurs arrived on the morning after the others went though the portal into the Grove of Renewal. There were six of them, three male and three female, each armed with massive greatbows and various other two-handed weapons they carried secured to their equine bodies. They had come at the behest of the Horselord, sent in response to the Great Oak's request but seemed unperturbed that the VQS wasn't yet ready to leave on their journey southwards. They busied themselves creating some kind of wagon that two of them could pull to better transport Feln's increased bulk.Karak entertained himself by watching the goblins play at organized society as they rebuilt the wall in the service of the Great Oak. He tended his armor, tended his beard with flaxen oil, and just plain rested. He actually enjoyed the silence and solitude for the first three days. That was until the fairy arrived - or was it two fairies? It was difficult to say; the little thing flitted around so fast and it seemed able to hide itself behind a blade of grass. At any rate, the damnable thing seemed fixated on Karak, hiding in the treetops and tittering away wherever he happened to be at the time. He'd spy it flying about out of the corner of his eye and then it would vanish as soon as he turned. It was nearly as bad as the halfling.Still, he did enjoy the relative quiet. No more babbling from Vade; or constant questions; or stories of long lost relatives from Thumble. Thinking of Thumble, Karak began to think Vade must miss him home by now. Miss his hearth and fire, friends and family.Karak began to realize a lot of time had passed since his companions entered the grove. He hoped they were alright. He was tugging his beard and reminiscing with the sounds of the goblins building in the background. Karak thought of how he first met Ledare's group with his brother, Malak. Delivering a message from his king in dwarven lock tube, they'd been. The group was much different now than he remembered them at the time. There had been a portly cleric of Shaharizod with one of those sculpted humie beards, a ranger, an elven wizard, a half-elf who carried himself like a thief, and Ledare, Janissary to the King. Ledare had taken this group long and far, he knew, and the group had had many faces.Karak, himself, joined after the loss of his brother. A wandering slayer he had become. Why not fight the foes of chaos that Ledare's companions were fighting? It seemed as good a fight as any. Besides Shaharizod wanted him to. Malak would have wanted him to, too. And that, ultimately, was enough.But now, Karak seemed at loss. Where were they? Were they hurt? Too injured to return? Had they been transported to another place? Did they leave him behind, he wondered? Maybe they have found treasure, and magic beyond their wildest dreams. If that were the case, the dwarf wouldn't begrudge them. He looked at his backpack full of gold and was satisfied with the Great Oak's gift."Speakin' of the Great Oak," he thought, "it be time I paid him a visit." Hearing a goblin screaming directions at another goblin broke Karak out of his revere. He went to examine the vault they had uncovered. Maybe he could determine who built it. Then it was off to see the Great Oak.Karak had spent nearly two full days helping the goblins catalog the contents of the treasure vault Vade had spied. There was quite a horde secreted there, much of it old even by dwarven standards. Most of it was coins, but there were gems and tapestries, scepters and wands, bowls of beaten gold and ingots of raw silver stamped with the acorn symbol of the Aronerai School. A vast horde indeed, but not one that should have taken the better part of two whole days to sort through.It was that damnable fairy! Karak was fairly certain now that there was only the one, but she was fast and devilishly hard to spot if she was sneaking about - which seemed to be all the time. She'd deliberately move things that Karak had already counted forcing him to go over and over the same items. Again and again. And again. He hadn't discovered this until he'd wasted almost an entire day's labor. It was maddening!And when she wasn't doing that, she was twittering in the dwarf's ear - he was convinced that she could turn invisible - or pulling his beard while he slept. He'd taken to sleeping with his waraxe in hand and not just under his pillow as he usually did. Not that it helped any...He was overjoyed when the hoary old gobliness, Gorguul, approached him and croaked, "You friends come back from Grove."Ledare let out a sigh of relief at the familiar sight of Great Oak's wood. She was grateful at not having to pass through the tests of earth and fire again. That relief lasted a moment  before she realized that she clutched a healing potion  in her hand - her last healing potion and one she'd kept in reserve for Feln and herself to use as they worked their way out of the Grove. She hadn't needed it and it might have spelled the difference between success and failure - life and death - for Morier. A wave of guilt washed over her and she fell against a nearby tree, sinking slowly to the cool green moss below it.Feln paid her no mind and instead limped some distance away, into a patch of sunshine that filtered down through the canopy above. There he settled himself and began to meditate.The dwarf burst into the grove where the dolmen stood and saw Feln sitting in the sun and Ledare slumped in the shadows looking sadly at something in her hand."Oi!" he bellowed. "Ye've returned! I'd begun to wonder if ye'd left me!""I need some time, friend," Feln said without opening his eyes. "Please leave me be for now." Karak harrumphed and turned his attention to Ledare.She half looked at him and raised a staying hand. Shaking her head she echoed the half-ogre's sentiment. "Some time, please.""Well, where be th'others?" Karak grunted in confusion and Feln opened his eyes and bared his fangs threateningly."Karak, I mean no disrespect... but I need time for reflection," he growled. "I will be with you shortly.""We know nothing for certain - only that Vade and Ixin never met us at the third portal," Ledare said, her voice sounding small and distant. "Perhaps they came back this way?" She looked hopefully to Karak, but the shocked expression on the dwarf's face told her all that she needed to know.</blockquote>

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