Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 2825497" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #338] Farewell to Feln[/PLAIN]The rider backed his horse up slightly and, favoring Morier with another appraising look, he hooked the morningstar back in its place. Its light faded away as his hand left the weapon's haft."My name is Ayremac," he explained, pressing his left fist against the skull symbol worked into his breastplate. "I am but an Officer of Umba. Why I stumbled across you at this time, only the gods know. Will you tell me now what has happened here?""We were ambushed," Morier told him, sheathing Ravager reluctantly as he spoke, "by an admitted band of renegade thugs and common thieves." Ayremac looked at the defeated bandits and his scowl deepened."Listen up, lad, you have decided to prance on up 'ere right at hot time," Karak grumbled. "As you can see we just dispatched this 'ere band o' bandits who'n decided to ambush us. Things are a little tense. We do nae know who you are, why you showed up here, and especially at this time. It seems you've touched the nerve o' our cleric and you look a fright."At mention of Shamalin, Ayremac turned to look at the half-elf, his face betraying nothing. "Cleric, I am sorry to have startled you," he called, pausing for a moment until Shamalin raised here eyes and looked on his face. Then he winked and mouthed the words: 'Are you okay?' before finishing aloud with, "Would you prefer that I ride on?"Shamalin had been teetering back and forth between belief and disbelief. Her mind flashed to a warm summer day many years gone by, and the face of the man before her as she had known it in her youth. Could it really be? After so long? Such evil as she had known could steal bodies, certainly. But no one except Arland Penibel could take such a serious moment and dispel her tensions in a wink. Perhaps it really was him. All eyes were on her, and for some reason she was compelled to continue his anonymity."I am sorry. I thought you were..." she began but she could not find the words to describe her fears. It was enough that they were, at least for the moment, unfounded. She relaxed her shoulders a bit and shook her head in response to his question: no."We've more important duties to attend to and a fallen comrade to honor," Morier told Ayremac, his voice dripping with unconcealed sarcasm. "So do with this pile of murdering detritus as you will, Sir 'Officer of Umba'." Ayremac shot the albino a glance that plainly indicated that he had noticed the eldritch warrior's mocking tone."I appreciate your candid nature sir, but I am not that kind of Officer," he said diplomatically. "Although I do believe these men will need to be brought to justice, I am unable to do so at this time. What is your intention with them?" "My preference is to kill all of these who have 'yielded,'" Lela chirped, swooping in to land on the trail. Glaring at Karak and Morier she added, "I understand I do not have everyone's support in that but certainly we need to disarm them." Karak harrumphed, scowling down at Lela."This 'ere is what we are gonna do," he said, stamping the butt of his waraxe on the ground for emphasis. "We are gonna strip these bandits down and take thier gear for the cause against Chaos. We are gonna leave 'em bound so they can nae follow us."Ayremac dismounted and ambled closer to Karak. The holy warrior eyed the prisoners and lowered his voice so that they would not overhear his words. "I am sorry, my way may not be like yours, but in good conscience I cannot leave men tied in the wilderness. They would surely die.""So?" Lela cried, her voice cracking with emotion. "There's balance in that! They killed Feln without provocation; let them die!""Lela!" Karak scolded. "We're nae the murderers that this lot be." He looked up at Ayremac and added, "If you be an officer of Umba and want to take 'em in your care, so be it.""I am in no position to give up my current pursuits and take these men to the proper authorities," Ayremac admitted to the dwarf."Just what are your current pursuits, holy man?" Morier asked petulantly. Ayremac considered for a moment, his lips pressed tight together."Well, I don't mean to be cryptic, but suffice it to say that the people of my temple and my town are being devistated by disease and we do not think it is a random occurence," he said at last. "I am just trying to see if any other towns have been affected by the same plight." "We have seen much plague, sickness, and rot," Morier told him, his tone one of commiseration. "More than perhaps most could imagine. It seems to be washing across the Realms faster each day. Barnacus, Relfren, Floxen."At mention of Floxen, Ayremac looked questioningly at Shamalin. The cleric was standing near the man's horse, stroking its neck. Her face had a haunted quality that he didn't much care for. She'd been so full of life when last he'd seen her; it was like a dagger of ice in his heart to see her like this. "Where have you been, man, to not know of Aphyx's latest deeds?" she asked, her voice almost a moan. Ayremac arched a delicate eyebrow. Where had her song gone?"Are you telling me that you believe that there are forces rising that serve the Rot Queen?" he asked and Shamalin nodded."We know it to be true," Morier added and the Officer of Umba snorted dismissively."I find that hard to believe," he said. "Her power was stripped bare when she fought Flor during the early days of Pellham. More likely this is the work of some demon of wizard. I have heard tales of a necromancer that has taken up lairing in the forest near Rhadcliffe.""This is Aphyx's doing," Morier said. "No matter how hard you find it to believe.""Aye, her power be on the rise," Karak said, spitting. "An' we've been tryin' to stand in her way as much as we can.""That's why we can't waste time worrying about these bandits," Lela said. "Let us deal with them with much haste and move on to caring for Feln!""Aye! We are gonna put our comrade Feln on his walk 'o the hundred days," Karak said with a sad shake of his head. "We will then be on our way.""So we take all of their weapons and leave the bandits with their shoes and clothing and that's all?" Morier asked. "Let them go and we go about our business?""If one of them killed your friend, then by holy law it would be just to take his life in exchange," Ayremac said, looking particularly at the Sprite as he spoke. "Lela, who would you hold responsible for Feln's death?" Without hesitation, Lela took to the air and circled above Hamelin's head."Him," she said firmly. "This one was the leader of the group." Hamelin began to weep."Then so be it," Ayremac said loosening his morningstar and moving toward the helpless prisoner. "Let justice be done.""I did not know this man in life, but I knew men like him," Ayremac said as they stood beside the body surrounded by the wooden pyre they had built for the half-ogre. He and Shamalin and Lela were gathered beside the corpse intending to use their various faiths to speed Feln's soul on its journey. "Brought into the world with a martial purpose but having a heart large enough to care for life's smallest creatures." He looked at Lela and smiled, but the faen screwed her face up in disgust."Look, I am small but I am not a child," she chirped. "Watch the condescending tone, please.""My appologies," Ayremac said, obviously taken aback by the sprite's ire. "I intended no disrespect.""Crude are the bodies which house souls in this lifetime," Shamalin said, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling between the Lela and Ayremac. "May Feln be at peace in a place where such... packaging... is of no consequence." Taking his cue from the cleric, Ayremac turned his attention back to the body. "It has been explained to me that he is taking the long walk for the second time, but this time, Feln, you will not be interupted," he said, placing his hand reassuringly on Feln's massive arm. "May you find peace in the eye's of Umba at your final destination.""Having been raised and schooled in darkness, he sought out and became one with the light," Shamalin added, her eyes downcast and her hands pressed tightly together. "It was a path which required more strength of will than most could ever hope to know.  And it will not go unnoticed.""Open your heart and allow yourself to be judged not only on your deeds, but your intent, your spirit, and your nature," Ayremac said as a benediction and then turned toward Karak, Morier, and Huzair (who had finally turned visible once it became clear that the newcomer was not out to kill them), saying, "Friends of Feln, say your farewells, for the warrior has taken to the path. If his life was just, and you live your life in the same way, you shall meet again in the afterlife."One by one, they filed up and stood briefly at the body's side and then they moved away leaving Lela a moment to say her own farewells."You were a great friend to me and you deserved to live a long life," the sprite cried, wiping tears away from her tiny cheeks. "You... I just wish you hadn't died so soon. I will miss you, my friend, but I look forward to meeting you again in the next world. We will continue your battle here. You have not died in vain."At her signal Huzair conjured a Flaming Sphere and directed it along the perimeter of the pyre, igniting the sticks and grasses that they had amassed around the body. The fire licked up, obscuring the half-ogre's corpse and sending thick black smoke into the darkening sky."Ye said that ye did nae travel alone," Karak muttered to Ayremac a bit later as they all stood watching Lela watch the body get consumed."Yes," the Officer of Umba admitted. "I was traveling with another man. We separated just before I happened upon you. He followed some folk he'd spied fleeing southward - most likely the bandits you say escaped.""I am getting tired of being attacked by invisible bandits and things I can nae see or reach," the dwarf snorted. "It's makin me a bit jumpy, not knowin' where 'e be.""He is not bound to me, sir dwarf," the Officer of Umba explained. "We share a common hatred for undeath, but I cannot say when he will return or truly if he will at all. He comes and goes as he pleases.""What do we do now?" Huzair asked, puffing on a cigar. "I mean I like a good fire as well as the next man, but are we just going to stand here all night watching the ogre burn?""We'll stay as long as the sprite needs us to," Karak grumbled. "Then we'll need to make camp.""I don't particularly want to sleep here," Morier said. "After being ambushed here, the place seems... cursed.""There is a wood a bit west along this road, back the way I came. There's a sign indicating the presence of a healer, 'Mistress Feathertouch'," Ayremac explained. "That spot would make a good defensible position for a campsite.""Are you joining us, then?" Shamalin asked without looking up at him."For tonight at least," he said. "I would hear more of your tales of Aphyx."</blockquote>

Verification