The Scourge of the Ratmen [Scarred Lands] - Updated 1/26
- Thread starter Amaroq
- Start date
Broccli_Head said:So was this a case of another troublesome player? Milo doesn't seem very group friendly
Milo was actually the same player as had earlier been Fergus. I know he's been reading but not posting - as we reach the denoument, here, perhaps he'd be willing to grace the group with a post or two?
I wouldn't characterize the player as "trouble" - he's a close friend of mine. But I think the trouble stemmed from a desire to play a distinct, strong neutral character who found himself allied with a "good" group; in places where "its the right thing to do" swayed the rest of the party, his characters had their own agendas, goals, and desires. This would have been more trouble later in the campaign, where "its the gods' will" became a common theme.
"Milo", if you'd like to address the character concept behind each, feel free!
Fulcan
First Post
Amaroq said:
Milo's player is a great role player and really gets into his characters. Unfortunately, it usually comes down the fact that the characters don't really work will with the group. It's a good thing we love the player so much *grin*.
Regarding the point brought about the charm person, It's been so long since this all went down that I forget exactly how we determined that he was under the influence of a spell. I just remember that circumstances were such that we really couldn't prove that he wasn't influenced. I guess we are all just too used to the innocent till proven guilty thing.
Paks goes to Milo’s cell, where she finds the halfling sitting on the edge of his bunk. “You have been found innocent,” she says, and kneels on one knee to begin unbinding him. “However, most of the group were concerned about the difficulty in getting forthright answers from you, and we have decided that you are expelled from our company. Taryn says that you must leave the freehold. He also warns that some of the townspeople may not accept that justice has been done, with this verdict, and he will not guarantee your safety.” She is done unbinding him, and he stands, rubbing his wrists to bring circulation back to them. “If you like, I can keep you company,” she offers.
“I think you are perhaps the only person here whom I would trust to do so,” Milo answers.
They walk out into the afternoon sun, and can be seen over the next hour or two wandering around the compound, and the surrounding orchard, immersed in a long conversation.
The rest of the group have dispersed to pass the afternoon in their own ways. Miriel, exhausted by a day of spell-casting, is upstairs napping. Chuck fatigues quickly, due to the Corpse Blisters and his recent wounds, and retires to sleep for the remainder of the afternoon.
Taryn asks for help rebuilding the town, and Stone agrees to go with him to help. A group of freeholders are working on repairing the burnt barn, while others are filling in the trenches which they had dug outside the gates. Others are un-barricading the windows of the main hall.
Goldpetal and Telryn go to look for Myrs, and find her outside the barn, helping direct the repairs. With a number of people working on repairing the fire damage, the animals have been displaced, but are outside of the compound walls, grazing.
“Has anyone ever seen lights or activity up at the standing stones?” Goldpetal asks, gesturing towards the ruins on the hill, which are visible in the distance from the freehold walls.
“Funny you should ask that,” Myrs answers. “About four months ago, there was some activity up there, but most of the men were out on a hunting expedition, so we didn’t send anyone to check it out.”
“Do you have any idea who it was?” the elf inquires.
“No.” Myrs face is questioning, and she looks almost disturbed. “Who would go up there at night?”
“Do you go up there at all?”
“No,” the lady of the freehold says. “That place feels full of an ancient evil. We warn our children not to go up there.”
“That’s probably best,” the elf agrees. “Do you get a sense that it’s haunted?”
“Haunted? I don’t know about ‘haunted’. You’ve felt the magic there, right? It’s falling down, but there’s certainly great power there.”
“Do you know how old it is?”
“Who can tell? It’s certainly older than the Titan’s war.”
“Thank you,” Goldpetal says, in conclusion. “Here, I’m going to help work on the barn.”
Myrs, too, looks ready to resume work, but Telryn interrupts her. “Before you get back to that,” the mage says, “Would you be willing to teach me any of the spells you worked upon the ratmen?”
“Yes, there may be a few things you can learn,” she says, with a motherly smile. “Come to my study.” The youthful mage spends the remainder of the afternoon reading.
When Paks and Milo come back from their private conversation, Paks goes to Chuck’s room. She finds him looking increasingly worse. The Corpse Blisters are spreading, and she knows that none of us know how to cure the disease. Miriel is asleep, and Paks isn’t sure that he will survive without assistance. She tends to him as best as she can. Finally, she prays to Madriel. “Merciful Madriel, please aid this man. Surely you cannot wish him ill.”
Once Miriel is awake, she goes to find Milo. He is sitting with Paks, Stone, Telryn, Delonia, and Goldpetal in the main hall. They appear to have just finished a mid-afternoon snack.
“Milo,” she says, as she walks into the hall. “I am rested. You can start your questioning of the party with her.”
“Good. I would like a private room,” he says. They go to the small cell which Milo has spent so much time in recently, and the door is closed behind them.
Less than a minute later, they storm back into the hall. A towering fury is etched across the red-haired priestess’ fine features, and the halfling, three steps behind her, yells, “You didn’t cast the spell!”
In a tight-lipped rage, without even looking at the halfling, she tells the company, “Milo has chose not to ask the questions.”
“It’s not like that!” Milo whines. “You didn’t cast the spell!”
“You saw me cast the spell,” she says.
“I don’t trust you! I saw you wave your hands and mumble some words, but the first thing I said was ‘My name is Zeke’. My name isn’t ‘Zeke’, it’s Milo!”
“Then you resisted the spell,” she says.
“Maybe you didn’t cast it!”
“I tell you, I did.”
“How can I tell?”
“You just have to trust me.”
“I was guaranteed truthful answers,” he insists.
“That is not true,” she says. “All you were guaranteed was my magic, which you have chosen not to use.”
Stone speaks, the first of the rest of the company to try to stem the tide. “I swear by Hedrada that I’ll tell the truth.”
Milo turns his attention to the half-orc. “I don’t know that you’re really an exemplar of Hedrada!”
“Neither do I,” the half-orc says philosophically. “I’ve been told I am.”
“Look,” Telryn says, “Would it help if I gave you a lecture on the way spells work?”
“Yes,” Milo accepts.
No more than a minute after Telryn begins to speak, the halfling tries to debate with him. Miriel points out, “You accepted a lecture, not a debate.” Surprisingly, this buys Milo’s silence for a long time.
Telryn lectures Milo for an hour while Miriel leaves to go work some more healing. The rest of us are all extremely impressed with Telryn’s scholarship, as well as his ability to talk on and on. He gives a solid foundation in the theory of spell-casting, outlines the difference between arcane magic and divine, and outlines how the zone of truth spell works, as well as what its limitations are – as Milo has discovered, it only compels that the speaker tell the truth, not that they answer any questions!
Before Telryn finishes his lecture, Miriel returns. She pulls Paks aside, and whispers to her. “I have healed myself and Chuck – we were both still wounded from the battle. I don’t have the power to cast cure disease yet, so Chuck is still suffering from the Corpse Blisters, but he appears to be improving.”
“Good,” Paks responds. “I looked in on him while you were sleeping, and I was very worried.”
When Telryn finishes his lecture, Milo says, “Thank you for the explanation. I still don’t trust the spell, or Miriel, for that matter. I suppose I might as well get ready to go. Paks, will you accompany me while I pack some provisions?” They leave together.
Stone, Miriel, Telryn, Delonia, and Goldpetal are left in the main hall. “I want to leave right away,” Stone says. He is referring to the idea of pursuing the ratmen into the swamp, which we delayed for a day to hold Milo’s trial.
“No,” Miriel says. “We should leave in the morning. I need to rest, and Chuck needs some time to heal. But, I understand that the ale here is excellent!”
“Okay,” Stone says. “I’ll help drink the ale, and repair the freehold.”
“I’m going to go upstairs and rest again,” Miriel says.
That leaves only Delonia, Telryn, and Goldpetal in the hall. Delonia looks up at Telryn. “Would you like to compare spells? Perhaps we could each learn something.”
Telryn lights up at the chance to study a higher-level mage’s spells. “Would I ever?” he asks.
Goldpetal shakes his head, with a perplexed look. “I don’t understand this studying thing. Spells are gifts of the gods!”
Telryn breaks into a big smile. “Don’t I know that!” he exclaims. “I’ve heard so many lectures on that subject! The man who looked after my sister and I was a high cleric of Hedrada, a very wonderful man, but I’m glad not to be part of his household any longer. I chafed under his restrictions.”
Goldpetal gives him a piercing look. “The order that Hedrada attempts to impose is as unnatural and harmful to the world as the evil perpetrated by the Titans.”
Telryn winces. “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” he says.
“I would,” Delonia says. “But let’s look at those spells.”
While the others rest or study, Stone helps finish the repairs to the damaged barn during the rest of the afternoon light. The freeholders are quite amused by the half-orc’s capacity for ale, as well as his trick of driving nails with his forehead. They become very friendly with him, no longer distrusting him for his orcish ancestry.
“So,” one of the freeholders asks him, “If you pound the nails with your head, do you saw the wood with your teeth?”
Stone bears his sharp canids in a wolfish grin. “Occasionally.”
The freeholder shudders, and says, “I’m glad we live south near the rat men, not north near the orcs!”
So it is that Stone, working on the main walls, is the only one who notices when Paks rides Star out the back gate. She carries Milo perched on the saddle in front of her.
It does not take long for the news to spread, however: a watchman informs Taryn in the hearing of Delonia and Telryn, adding that they rode north. Taryn just nods, and says, “That makes a certain amount of sense.”
Rumors spread throughout the compound, but Stone says to wait for Paks to return.
“I think you are perhaps the only person here whom I would trust to do so,” Milo answers.
They walk out into the afternoon sun, and can be seen over the next hour or two wandering around the compound, and the surrounding orchard, immersed in a long conversation.
The rest of the group have dispersed to pass the afternoon in their own ways. Miriel, exhausted by a day of spell-casting, is upstairs napping. Chuck fatigues quickly, due to the Corpse Blisters and his recent wounds, and retires to sleep for the remainder of the afternoon.
Taryn asks for help rebuilding the town, and Stone agrees to go with him to help. A group of freeholders are working on repairing the burnt barn, while others are filling in the trenches which they had dug outside the gates. Others are un-barricading the windows of the main hall.
Goldpetal and Telryn go to look for Myrs, and find her outside the barn, helping direct the repairs. With a number of people working on repairing the fire damage, the animals have been displaced, but are outside of the compound walls, grazing.
“Has anyone ever seen lights or activity up at the standing stones?” Goldpetal asks, gesturing towards the ruins on the hill, which are visible in the distance from the freehold walls.
“Funny you should ask that,” Myrs answers. “About four months ago, there was some activity up there, but most of the men were out on a hunting expedition, so we didn’t send anyone to check it out.”
“Do you have any idea who it was?” the elf inquires.
“No.” Myrs face is questioning, and she looks almost disturbed. “Who would go up there at night?”
“Do you go up there at all?”
“No,” the lady of the freehold says. “That place feels full of an ancient evil. We warn our children not to go up there.”
“That’s probably best,” the elf agrees. “Do you get a sense that it’s haunted?”
“Haunted? I don’t know about ‘haunted’. You’ve felt the magic there, right? It’s falling down, but there’s certainly great power there.”
“Do you know how old it is?”
“Who can tell? It’s certainly older than the Titan’s war.”
“Thank you,” Goldpetal says, in conclusion. “Here, I’m going to help work on the barn.”
Myrs, too, looks ready to resume work, but Telryn interrupts her. “Before you get back to that,” the mage says, “Would you be willing to teach me any of the spells you worked upon the ratmen?”
“Yes, there may be a few things you can learn,” she says, with a motherly smile. “Come to my study.” The youthful mage spends the remainder of the afternoon reading.
When Paks and Milo come back from their private conversation, Paks goes to Chuck’s room. She finds him looking increasingly worse. The Corpse Blisters are spreading, and she knows that none of us know how to cure the disease. Miriel is asleep, and Paks isn’t sure that he will survive without assistance. She tends to him as best as she can. Finally, she prays to Madriel. “Merciful Madriel, please aid this man. Surely you cannot wish him ill.”
Once Miriel is awake, she goes to find Milo. He is sitting with Paks, Stone, Telryn, Delonia, and Goldpetal in the main hall. They appear to have just finished a mid-afternoon snack.
“Milo,” she says, as she walks into the hall. “I am rested. You can start your questioning of the party with her.”
“Good. I would like a private room,” he says. They go to the small cell which Milo has spent so much time in recently, and the door is closed behind them.
Less than a minute later, they storm back into the hall. A towering fury is etched across the red-haired priestess’ fine features, and the halfling, three steps behind her, yells, “You didn’t cast the spell!”
In a tight-lipped rage, without even looking at the halfling, she tells the company, “Milo has chose not to ask the questions.”
“It’s not like that!” Milo whines. “You didn’t cast the spell!”
“You saw me cast the spell,” she says.
“I don’t trust you! I saw you wave your hands and mumble some words, but the first thing I said was ‘My name is Zeke’. My name isn’t ‘Zeke’, it’s Milo!”
“Then you resisted the spell,” she says.
“Maybe you didn’t cast it!”
“I tell you, I did.”
“How can I tell?”
“You just have to trust me.”
“I was guaranteed truthful answers,” he insists.
“That is not true,” she says. “All you were guaranteed was my magic, which you have chosen not to use.”
Stone speaks, the first of the rest of the company to try to stem the tide. “I swear by Hedrada that I’ll tell the truth.”
Milo turns his attention to the half-orc. “I don’t know that you’re really an exemplar of Hedrada!”
“Neither do I,” the half-orc says philosophically. “I’ve been told I am.”
“Look,” Telryn says, “Would it help if I gave you a lecture on the way spells work?”
“Yes,” Milo accepts.
No more than a minute after Telryn begins to speak, the halfling tries to debate with him. Miriel points out, “You accepted a lecture, not a debate.” Surprisingly, this buys Milo’s silence for a long time.
Telryn lectures Milo for an hour while Miriel leaves to go work some more healing. The rest of us are all extremely impressed with Telryn’s scholarship, as well as his ability to talk on and on. He gives a solid foundation in the theory of spell-casting, outlines the difference between arcane magic and divine, and outlines how the zone of truth spell works, as well as what its limitations are – as Milo has discovered, it only compels that the speaker tell the truth, not that they answer any questions!
Before Telryn finishes his lecture, Miriel returns. She pulls Paks aside, and whispers to her. “I have healed myself and Chuck – we were both still wounded from the battle. I don’t have the power to cast cure disease yet, so Chuck is still suffering from the Corpse Blisters, but he appears to be improving.”
“Good,” Paks responds. “I looked in on him while you were sleeping, and I was very worried.”
When Telryn finishes his lecture, Milo says, “Thank you for the explanation. I still don’t trust the spell, or Miriel, for that matter. I suppose I might as well get ready to go. Paks, will you accompany me while I pack some provisions?” They leave together.
Stone, Miriel, Telryn, Delonia, and Goldpetal are left in the main hall. “I want to leave right away,” Stone says. He is referring to the idea of pursuing the ratmen into the swamp, which we delayed for a day to hold Milo’s trial.
“No,” Miriel says. “We should leave in the morning. I need to rest, and Chuck needs some time to heal. But, I understand that the ale here is excellent!”
“Okay,” Stone says. “I’ll help drink the ale, and repair the freehold.”
“I’m going to go upstairs and rest again,” Miriel says.
That leaves only Delonia, Telryn, and Goldpetal in the hall. Delonia looks up at Telryn. “Would you like to compare spells? Perhaps we could each learn something.”
Telryn lights up at the chance to study a higher-level mage’s spells. “Would I ever?” he asks.
Goldpetal shakes his head, with a perplexed look. “I don’t understand this studying thing. Spells are gifts of the gods!”
Telryn breaks into a big smile. “Don’t I know that!” he exclaims. “I’ve heard so many lectures on that subject! The man who looked after my sister and I was a high cleric of Hedrada, a very wonderful man, but I’m glad not to be part of his household any longer. I chafed under his restrictions.”
Goldpetal gives him a piercing look. “The order that Hedrada attempts to impose is as unnatural and harmful to the world as the evil perpetrated by the Titans.”
Telryn winces. “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” he says.
“I would,” Delonia says. “But let’s look at those spells.”
While the others rest or study, Stone helps finish the repairs to the damaged barn during the rest of the afternoon light. The freeholders are quite amused by the half-orc’s capacity for ale, as well as his trick of driving nails with his forehead. They become very friendly with him, no longer distrusting him for his orcish ancestry.
“So,” one of the freeholders asks him, “If you pound the nails with your head, do you saw the wood with your teeth?”
Stone bears his sharp canids in a wolfish grin. “Occasionally.”
The freeholder shudders, and says, “I’m glad we live south near the rat men, not north near the orcs!”
So it is that Stone, working on the main walls, is the only one who notices when Paks rides Star out the back gate. She carries Milo perched on the saddle in front of her.
It does not take long for the news to spread, however: a watchman informs Taryn in the hearing of Delonia and Telryn, adding that they rode north. Taryn just nods, and says, “That makes a certain amount of sense.”
Rumors spread throughout the compound, but Stone says to wait for Paks to return.
joshwitz
First Post
Fulcan said:
Out of all of Jared's characters, I liked Milo the best. I was bummed when you guys kicked him out. I'm glad you kept him alive, however. I haven't forgotten that he's kicking around somewhere, btw. ;-)
Jared is also a master at finding interesting rule combinations. (He is a devestating board-gamer.) Even though Milo was low-level, he was relatively powerful due to some creative min/maxing. He would have been very useful if you could have found a way to keep him on your side.
Fulcan said:
I totally remember what happened, but I'm not sure if I'm at liberty to say yet. I'll leave it up to Jared to tell his side of the story.
I will say that I kept a close eye on him, and made sure that he was telling the truth when he failed to resist the Zone of Truth spell. He also did a great job of confusing the issue and stalling until the spell ran out. By the end, it wasn't clear what really happened, or what (if anything) Milo was responsible for. (Jared would make a fantastic lawyer.)
All of which was completely in character, but which did not endear Milo to the party. I remember that one of the ideas of the trial was as way to keep Milo around. Certain players/characters were rooting for him at the beginning, but by the end his dissembling alientated all the characters and some of the players. (I recall one or two people being pretty mad.)
Enter Novalia...
Fulcan
First Post
joshwitz said:
I would still love to have a rogue in our company. They are immensely usefull for finding the traps and such that are always in Telryns way. But that's a story for a later hour.
Paks never did let the rest of the group know what she did with Milo. We're all still wondering.
Thanks, as always Amaroq. These are so much fun to read.
Fulcan
First Post
joshwitz said:
That's for sure! Actually that's not true, because it was the experience with a certain group that lived in the tribe that sold him on the adventuring life, in my mind.
Telryn did sit on the jury for Milo, but I'm not sure why either. Maybe because of his scholarly demeanor *shrug*.
Next you'll here Telryn say "I hate the <blank>"
Issue #9: Milo's Trial: Episode 4
By sunset, about two hours after Paks left, the complex is nearly whole and sound. The barn still looks a little worse for wear – scorch marks are visible in some places – but the repairs are complete. Most of the group is inside, but Stone and Delonia are keeping watch for Paks’ return.
The guard, up at the watchtower, is the first to spot her, and calls down to them, “Here she comes. One rider, alone.”
Within a few minutes, Paks is riding up to the rear gate. She sits astride Star, the magnificent black horse which used to belong to Jim, as though she belongs in the saddle. She doesn’t look weary at all. Stone and Delonia meet her at the gate.
Delonia shakes her head. “I know you guys had a trial and all, but I can’t believe you just let him go like that. It’s going to be trouble.”
Stone asks, “Where’d you let him go?”
“North,” she says, “A decent ride from here.”
“You don’t remember?” the half-orc persists.
Paks shakes her head. “Just in some rough country,” she says evasively.
“Did you take his hamstrings?” Stone asks eagerly.
“No,” Paks says with a smile. “But I took some other things – do you want some darts?” She pulls out all of Milo’s weapons, and offers them to Stone.
Everyone meets in the dining hall for the evening meal, which is a friendly, informal affair. The children are noisy and playful, and the dogs lie under the long tables, patiently waiting for a scrap to fall. Stone, Delonia, and Brand drink heavily, in continued celebration of the previous day’s victory.
Miriel seems much happier, as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She gets a private smile when she notices that Llewyn is looking at Chuck with tender concern. He awoke just before Paks returned, and has come downstairs for the evening meal. He looks pale and unwell, and barely plays with his food.
Paks and Goldpetal are both quiet and somber. They both seem to have a lot to think about, and Goldpetal begs his leave, to go for a walk outside of the compound walls after he has finished his meal. Paks remains, but shakes her head when Stone offers her a beer, and says little.
Telryn has hit it off quite well with Myrs, and they talk of many things. She outlines the region for him, in enough detail that he knows where we are, and could probably work his way back to Molistown on his own.
When the evening meal has finished, and the children and townsfolk have left, Taryn thanks us again for our help. “If you guys are going to set out after the rat men, I’d advise that you do it soon,” he says.
“We’re setting out tomorrow,” Miriel tells him.
He nods in satisfaction.
“We’ll have to leave the cart,” Paks tells him, “It won’t avail us in a swamp. Would it be useful to your folk?”
“Yes, I think we could make good use of it,” he says. “Thank you.”
“We’ll also need to leave the horses,” she says. “Would your family be willing to look after them?”
“We’d be happy to.”
Though Stone and Delonia remain awake well into the evening, the rest of the group retires early, planning to make an early start the next day.
We wake at dawn the next morning, packing, and readying ourselves to leave the compound.
Chuck, who had been ill with the Corpse Blisters, is feeling much better, but still has numerous black blisters on his back and stomach. He is also still not fully recovered from his wounds at the hands of Xyler Blackfoot during the siege. Paks and Miriel both minister to him, together and they offer a shared prayer to Madriel. Miraculously, the blisters shrivel up and fall off, and by the time they are through, he feels completely cured, and his wounds are finally healed.
We share a quick morning meal, where we discover that Goldpetal has not returned. Before we can worry about it, Taryn says that the druid awaits us out of doors, in the orchard.
We gather in the courtyard, and most of the freeholders come out to see us off. Some give us food, fairly split between fresh bread and cheese for the first days of our journey, and harder, dried foods, perhaps a week’s worth of rations each, all told.
As everyone is saying goodbye, Delonia says, “It’s been nice traveling with you, but this is where our paths part. Good luck. May Enkili shine his light on you! I feel we may meet again, but I hope not!”
She turns to Paks, and adds, “I give special thanks to you, Paks. You’ve been nothing but fair to me, more fair than perhaps I deserved.”
“You are welcome,” Paks smiles at her. “The blessing of Madriel on you, and many thanks for all your help.”
Delonia smiles her brightest smile. “Just don’t mention me to Grilliam.”
Paks laughs. “Of course not,” she promises.
While the others are paying attention to Delonia, and saying their farewells, Llewyn aprroaches Chuck, carrying a large, 10-foot wooden pole. “Chuck,” she says, “You’re incompetent, but I don’t want you to die.”
Chuck blushes. “Thanks,” he says, “I’m used to hearing that.”
She gives him the pole. “This should be quite useful to you, in the swamps,” she says.
“Thank you,” is all he can reply.
“I can carry that, if you want,” Stone says. He takes the pole, leaving Chuck’s hands free, but the youthful Vigilant feels awkward in front of the rest of the group, and offers Llewyn no more than clasping hands together, for a brief moment.
As we pass through the main gates, Taryn calls to us, “You will always be welcome here. You will always find a place to stay, to rest or to train. Anything we can give, is yours.”
“We’ll be back soon,” Chuck responds.
“Yes, but not just soon,” Taryn says. “Anytime you need us, you can come to us.”
We leave Kratys Freehold, to warm farewells called from the walls and waves from the grateful freeholders.
By sunset, about two hours after Paks left, the complex is nearly whole and sound. The barn still looks a little worse for wear – scorch marks are visible in some places – but the repairs are complete. Most of the group is inside, but Stone and Delonia are keeping watch for Paks’ return.
The guard, up at the watchtower, is the first to spot her, and calls down to them, “Here she comes. One rider, alone.”
Within a few minutes, Paks is riding up to the rear gate. She sits astride Star, the magnificent black horse which used to belong to Jim, as though she belongs in the saddle. She doesn’t look weary at all. Stone and Delonia meet her at the gate.
Delonia shakes her head. “I know you guys had a trial and all, but I can’t believe you just let him go like that. It’s going to be trouble.”
Stone asks, “Where’d you let him go?”
“North,” she says, “A decent ride from here.”
“You don’t remember?” the half-orc persists.
Paks shakes her head. “Just in some rough country,” she says evasively.
“Did you take his hamstrings?” Stone asks eagerly.
“No,” Paks says with a smile. “But I took some other things – do you want some darts?” She pulls out all of Milo’s weapons, and offers them to Stone.
Everyone meets in the dining hall for the evening meal, which is a friendly, informal affair. The children are noisy and playful, and the dogs lie under the long tables, patiently waiting for a scrap to fall. Stone, Delonia, and Brand drink heavily, in continued celebration of the previous day’s victory.
Miriel seems much happier, as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She gets a private smile when she notices that Llewyn is looking at Chuck with tender concern. He awoke just before Paks returned, and has come downstairs for the evening meal. He looks pale and unwell, and barely plays with his food.
Paks and Goldpetal are both quiet and somber. They both seem to have a lot to think about, and Goldpetal begs his leave, to go for a walk outside of the compound walls after he has finished his meal. Paks remains, but shakes her head when Stone offers her a beer, and says little.
Telryn has hit it off quite well with Myrs, and they talk of many things. She outlines the region for him, in enough detail that he knows where we are, and could probably work his way back to Molistown on his own.
When the evening meal has finished, and the children and townsfolk have left, Taryn thanks us again for our help. “If you guys are going to set out after the rat men, I’d advise that you do it soon,” he says.
“We’re setting out tomorrow,” Miriel tells him.
He nods in satisfaction.
“We’ll have to leave the cart,” Paks tells him, “It won’t avail us in a swamp. Would it be useful to your folk?”
“Yes, I think we could make good use of it,” he says. “Thank you.”
“We’ll also need to leave the horses,” she says. “Would your family be willing to look after them?”
“We’d be happy to.”
Though Stone and Delonia remain awake well into the evening, the rest of the group retires early, planning to make an early start the next day.
We wake at dawn the next morning, packing, and readying ourselves to leave the compound.
Chuck, who had been ill with the Corpse Blisters, is feeling much better, but still has numerous black blisters on his back and stomach. He is also still not fully recovered from his wounds at the hands of Xyler Blackfoot during the siege. Paks and Miriel both minister to him, together and they offer a shared prayer to Madriel. Miraculously, the blisters shrivel up and fall off, and by the time they are through, he feels completely cured, and his wounds are finally healed.
We share a quick morning meal, where we discover that Goldpetal has not returned. Before we can worry about it, Taryn says that the druid awaits us out of doors, in the orchard.
We gather in the courtyard, and most of the freeholders come out to see us off. Some give us food, fairly split between fresh bread and cheese for the first days of our journey, and harder, dried foods, perhaps a week’s worth of rations each, all told.
As everyone is saying goodbye, Delonia says, “It’s been nice traveling with you, but this is where our paths part. Good luck. May Enkili shine his light on you! I feel we may meet again, but I hope not!”
She turns to Paks, and adds, “I give special thanks to you, Paks. You’ve been nothing but fair to me, more fair than perhaps I deserved.”
“You are welcome,” Paks smiles at her. “The blessing of Madriel on you, and many thanks for all your help.”
Delonia smiles her brightest smile. “Just don’t mention me to Grilliam.”
Paks laughs. “Of course not,” she promises.
While the others are paying attention to Delonia, and saying their farewells, Llewyn aprroaches Chuck, carrying a large, 10-foot wooden pole. “Chuck,” she says, “You’re incompetent, but I don’t want you to die.”
Chuck blushes. “Thanks,” he says, “I’m used to hearing that.”
She gives him the pole. “This should be quite useful to you, in the swamps,” she says.
“Thank you,” is all he can reply.
“I can carry that, if you want,” Stone says. He takes the pole, leaving Chuck’s hands free, but the youthful Vigilant feels awkward in front of the rest of the group, and offers Llewyn no more than clasping hands together, for a brief moment.
As we pass through the main gates, Taryn calls to us, “You will always be welcome here. You will always find a place to stay, to rest or to train. Anything we can give, is yours.”
“We’ll be back soon,” Chuck responds.
“Yes, but not just soon,” Taryn says. “Anytime you need us, you can come to us.”
We leave Kratys Freehold, to warm farewells called from the walls and waves from the grateful freeholders.
