Vengeance in Mornonas

[doghead]

Xavier Roces, Human Male.

"I am sorry Sir, but the city is closed at this hour you will have to sleep at the Travelers Inn tonight and come back tomorrow morning"

Xavier is about to tell the man he is being rediculious, and to insist on being allowed to pass when he remembers where he is and why he is here. There no great need to be in the city tonight, his appointment with the Baron is not until the morrow. And the inn looks quite interesting.

Xavier nods. "Of course, I understand. What time do the gates open and close each day?"

Once he has his answer, he turns his horse and heads towards the inn, whistling his wolf hound to follow.

ooc: What time is the appointment tomorrow? Would it be normal to wear armour while travelling? Adventurers do, but then, they are not normal.

 

[DarkMaster]

Solomon leaves the beggar. Solomon has barely turned his back, the beggar is already gone walking very quickly in the side street, shouting crazy things to the people and the three visible moons.

Solomon quickly heads back towards the restaurant where he is supposed to meet with his compagnion.

------

The young soldier answers back. "The door opens when the sun rises and closes when it goes down. Rest assure Sir that the Traveller's inn is a very respectable place controlled by our great Baron himself, Baron Villral. We wish a you a good night.

Xavier walks for about ten minutes in complete darkness only guided by the moons dim light, the various campfires and the light coming out from the Inn.

He finally gets to caravans, he passes in front of gypsies, merchant, mercenaries, travellers and pillgrims.

He notices that the activity around the Inn is very intense people are getting in and out all the time. Xavier enters the main room. At least 200 peoples must be currently sitting in this place. At the back of the building he sees what seems to be a bar. There is also a restaurant section where you can eat. The place seems very crowded and Xavier thinks that it must be very difficult to eat with so little room. Near the bar there is a 20 foot wide stairs that goes up. Again several people are using it to go up and down, bringning food and drink upstairs. There are currently four people serving at the bar. A beautiful young brunette, a middled aged grey haired women, an old halfling which seems to direct the operation and a young half-orc who seems to take care of the heavy stuff.

 

[doghead]

Xavier Roces

Xavier draws to a stop just outside the collection of campfires. He gazes over the people crowded around them - the gypsies, merchant, mercenaries, travellers and pillgrims. He finds himself wondering what brought them here to this place, and at this time. What they do when they are not here. How they all live their lives. He is struck by how little he knows of the vast majority of world. These are the people than make the world go round. The king might be the embodiment of the kingdom, but these people are *the* body. A smile spreads slowly over his face. He decides that he is going to work on rectifying his ignorance, starting tonight.

He heels his mount to a walk and passes slowly though the campsites to the inn. He dismounts with a sigh of relief, and stretches out his stiff back before heading into the inn. For a moment he stands in the door drinking it all in. Eventually, he shakes himself out of his revery and before he really knows what he is doing he turns and walks back out. Gathering up the reins of his horse and whistling his hound to his side, he sets off back in the direction of one of the campsites from which the smells of food were good and the music was particularly lively.

His heart is pounding as he approaches the campfire. As the eyes of those around it begin swinging in his direction and the conversation falls away, he begins to wonder if he has made a mistake. But standing just feet away, it is too late to just turn around and go back.

"Good evening. I am Xavier Roces." He is about to bow when he wonders if that is approapriate. The sudden realisation that all of the usual certainties of social interaction may not apply here throws Xavier for a moment.

"I um, ... er couldn't help but notice that the music you were playing." Relief floods through his as he sees a way through this. "It was beautiful. I play a little as well," he touches the lute case on his saddle, "and er ... was wondering if I could join you for a while to listen."

Xavier is glad that in the firelight it is almost impossible to see that he is blushing.

ooc: darkmaster - I had a gypsy camp in mind when I wrote this but I'll leave it up to you to choose who he has approached.

 

[Kangaxx]

Jasper Conrad

Karn listens very carefully at Dai's story without even interrupting once. With each word coming from his mouth, The old soldier anger increases. Once his finished Karn add, his voice mixed with rage and pain. "As I can see they commited more crimes and now Dai, Solomon and .... Telic are the outlaws. They won't get me until I made sure a few of them end up on the tip of this sword." Uncle Joe looks at the soldier with surprised but doesn't say anything understanding the man's pain.

Uncle Joe stand up from his sofa "This is very strange. The way you described the old priest reminds me of Jriok, but he died three years ago. There was a special ceremony for him where we brought back his body to the great crypt in Talos. I think we were about 15 at his funeral. Myself and a few other notable who knew him and maybe 10 churchmembers. He was an extremely wise man but not an oratory, he usually left this task to other member of his church until he was the last priest there. He was around 80 years old when he died and was very weak. He pauses reflect a bit scratching his head. "Jasper, you mention that Uder was heading towards the church but when he saw the crowd in front of the temple he dissapeared in the sewers. Obviously there is a connection there. What about that boat and the noble, would Uder be planning to quit city? Are the Ryard family involved?

But what fascinates me the most is what Oculus told me about Enirdnas. If all that is true I can see a lot of people interested in that type of knowledge. I think that you should act quickly, I don't really like the fact that they have a boat ready, worst the boat is now even located in the main port and could leave almost unoticed by the authority at any time. Uncle Joe seat back and think letting the other express their point of view.

Jasper stands up and starts pacing, eating a cookie while he speaks.

"Joe, you're saying Jriok was the last priest at the temple of Heronious? Is there another one nearby where we could get more information about it? From what Dai says, I think it's safe to assume that wasn't actually a priest of Heronious, much less Jriok.

But you're right, the goddess is the greater concern. Uder said that the curse killed the people of Prumen, and I think there must be some truth to that, because I don't believe that he would have killed them for no reason. Hopefully we can learn something more about this curse from the book. Oculus also said that the counsellor has 2 of the 5 rocks associated with the goddess. These rocks seem to be important for whatever ritual he is attempting to perform. Perhaps we could steal them from him before he leaves town? I have a spell that would be able to find them if they are nearby." Jasper pauses to gather his thoughts.

"Our most immediate problem is what to tell the baron tomorrow. Obviously we need to tell him about the goblin army, and Captain Farimond's disappearance. But should we tell him about the counsellor and his cult? We don't have any evidence, and only a general idea of what they're doing. What do you all think?"

 

[DarkMaster]

The musician barely stops when Xavier introduces himself. A beautifull tall black haired women approaches him. She takes him by the arm and invites him to dance. Xavier still wearing his armor wonders if he will be able to keep up with her. Around him the muscian starts playing again that fascinating music. Xavier doesn't know why but he almost feels like his legs wants to dance on their own. And the beautifull mysterious lady who is currently subtely smiling at him, her large beautifull blue eyes looking in his begging him to join her, makes it difficult to resist.

Around him he notices that the group is mostly mades of humans, a few half elf and half orc. Xavier can also sees other traveller like him, that joined the festive group and are dancing like if there was no tomorrow. Most of the young women are lightly dressed and very attractive.

 

[silentspace]

Oculus, human cleric/wizard

"It could be Jriok. I believe the rocks are cursed, and turn whoever is in contact with them evil. I don't think Uder was evil before, though he is now, after having found the rocks."

"I say we should report to the Baron on our mission and nothing more. That is to say, we should report what happened to Captain Farimond's company, and what happened to Jasper and me. The town meeting, Jasper's researches, my keeping watch at the bridge. And the massacre. We don't need to even mention meeting the others. And certainly we shouldn't mention anything about what happened today at the temple."

"I suspect there is a vast conspiracy at work here. The center of it, based on what we know so far, is at the temple of Heironeous. I'm assuming that's where Uder was headed through the sewers. We should assume that Uder and the priest of Hieroneous are in cahoots. They also have influence with the city guards. It looks like they are paying some of them off. The fact that they have bought off some guards makes me wonder how high up the chain Uder and the others have influence with the powers in Mornonas. Both Uder and the priest of Heironeous remain highly respected here, and are probably both personal friends and/or associates of the Baron. This is why I recommend not mentioning any of that to the Baron."

"Uder, and we should assume the priest of Heironeous, are after the power of the stones, and will stop at nothing to get it."

"But we can find help, I think. First there is Hl'lar. He is motivated by greed. I don't think he even knows what Uder is after, but we can use him and his associates to help our cause."

"Second... and I hesitate to suggest this... are the witches themselves, if we can find them. They are not to be trusted, surely. They are motivated, it seems, by divine fervor. Uder stole the stones from the tomb of their goddess, and I'm sure the witches want them back. Its a dangerous proposal, but we could get the two groups to fight each other. We just need to make sure neither side ends up with the stones."

"Third... are good-hearted citizens, folk such as Karn here, who have seen the evil at work and will help us stop it. There are probably others like him too, we just need to find them."

 

[DarkMaster]

OOC I will assume Dai has nothing more to say.

At Oculus requests Joe stand up and offers him and Jasper to go in his office were they can be more private.

Jasper and Oculus walk to the office. The office is complete mess. Various artefact, scrolls and books are lying all over the place. The wooden office furniture are simple but practical. Jasper sits on his uncle chair behind the office and Oculus take a wooden chair nearby. They pushed aside a large map of Mergovie with a lots of handwritten marks on it and open the book. Oculus reads the first line of his scroll, concentrates a little and opens the book reading it as quickly as he can.

The books contains a lot of fluff about the witches practices and how they are supposed to use magic to rule the world, in a very subtle way. Through out the readings Oculus notices that the book keep on mentioning that members of the cult must do everything to cover their identity, they must use lie and deception to impose their will on the world. In all case their knowledge should never be shared with non-initiate. They must also strives to destroy anyone attempting to do so. It is said that most known races are not ready to handle the knowledge and that providing them with it would only results in catastrophic consequences. But he can find anything about curses.

There is a whole chapter on the eight "communion" and their signification. That Oculus skips.

He then gets to the rocks, They are called the divine orbs. The first Orb Magiux represent the nine schools of magic. The second Orb, Falviux: represent the magical energy that flows in the choosen one veins. The Third Orb Terriux. Represent the Prime Material plane and everything associated to it. The fourth Maliux is the phylosophie of the godess (a very lawful evil society and philosphy of order and sacrifices). The last one Deuix represent the houses of the godess Enirdnas, located in the seventh layer of the Nine Hell, Isidore. The five rocks are needed in order to open a portal to Isidore leading to the chamber where the book of all knowledge is located. The location of the other Orb can all be found in Terriux or Deuix depending on their location (prime or outerplane).

Oculus continues to browse quickly through the book has the spell is about to finish. The philosophy is explained in very complete and profound details. This type of society doesn't beleive in the well being of it's member only of it's society. Mistakes and failures must be harshaly punished, success on the other must be venerated and rewarded. The books ask from his follower almost inhuman regime of self-discipline and self control on a multitude of aspects. And only people able to follow this extreme discipline can access the knowledge without risks.

The last part dealing with the philosphie is extremely thick and heavy to read and quickly Oculus spell end. He didn't read everything in details but he know got has a grasp of it's content.

Oculus looking at the pictures in the book can suppose that Uder has Terriux and Flaviux.

OOC Information extra not mention in the text. Magiux contains a part of the knowledge of Enirdnas enough to allow you to decipher the tome of all knowledge and an enormous quantity of spell. Flaviux improve the ability of the spontaneous arcane caster. Terriux contains the entire geography of the prime material plane. Deiux contains a large portion of the geography of plane of interest. Maliux provides the owner with the knowledge of the goddess teaching and gives him the strenght to act as the perfect embodiment of the godess teaching.

 

[DarkMaster]

Solomon finally makes it to the small restaurant. As he enters the place he notices Trolm and Jraq eating some chicken and rice. Solomon didn't really eat tonight and the smell coming from all those roasted chicken is making him salivates.

 

[doghead]

Xavier Roces.

"I um, well I really better with the lute than dancing ... ah. Right then."

Xavier stumbles awkwardly as a woman tugs him into the circle. He's about to protest that he's not really dressed for dancing - being in armour and all - but realises that they arn't really interested. Instead, he sweeps a bow to the other dancers before joining their ranks. The dance is not a familier one, but similiar enough to those he has seen, and occasionally danced in, at court for him to pick up the basic steps. Its all a bit more lively than he had expected, and a bit disconcerting. He wonders if they are as welcoming to everyone. Looking around at the other people dancing, it seems that they are. Xavier decides to go with the dance for a bit before excusing himself and perhaps collecting his lute.

As he dances, he can't help but find his gaze drawn to the woman who first asked him to dance. She is indeed beautiful, enchanting even. A small shiver runs down his spine. Xavier resolves to keep a clear head tonight.

After a little while, Xavier excuses himself from the dance and collects his lute. If allowed, he will join the musicians playing.

ooc: Sense Motive +7, Perform Dance +3, Perform Instrument +7.

 

[DarkMaster]

Xavier dances fairly well (T10 +3 +2 inspire competence). He finishes the dances the women bow in front of him, looking at him with eyes that could make the arctic melt and makes him feel like he is the only one. She then heads towards one of the surronding caravan without saying a word. Xavier has a good feeling about the intention of the women (Sense motive ???), and feel that her interest in him could be genuine.

Xavier then sits among the musician who greets him and praises his performance. They ask him if he knows about "The dance of the witch". Xavier knows that song very well, it's an old Mergovian folkloric song. This song is actually quite rythm and people can easily dance on it. When Xavier nods that he knows the song, the young half-elf who seems to be leading the group, at least musically, smiles at him "Then play my friend, enjoy the night with us" On that he starts to play and the others follow. Xavier brings a good addition to the group (perform lute t10 + 7). Xavier never realised how a few muscisian can bring strangers together for a short moment. He notices traveller from all across the country and even some from other continent all united and dancing over that large bonfire. People's mood around the fire is incredible.