Morton
After going out to the well to draw a bucket to splash water on his face and neck,
Morton returns to the house to tend to
Antonius with the remaining water and heads into the bedroom to tend to the comatose cleric. It takes a while of applying poultices before the man awakens.
Mathfuric says:
"Antonius Block," the cleric says at last, his voice rough with sleep.
"Cleric of Wee Jas."
His gaze returns briefly to the healer's kit before meeting the elf's eyes.
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Who might you be, and what brings you to this part of the Dim Forest?"The elf replies,
"I am Sir Morton, a fellow Dungeon Buster who stumbled across this farm last night as I was...returning from my first expedition to Orlane. I was dismayed to see your group fighting zombies here; I'd hoped I'd left that behind me. So I assisted in putting down the zombies and getting people back inside, where I did what I could to keep you from dying."
WhtKnt says:
"Sir Morton," Sora yawns,
Pray, would you travel with us and tell us what you know of nearby Orlane?"Returning from applying herbal poultices to
Antonius' wounds,
Morton bows to
Sora.
"Thank you for the kind invitation. That is my hope. I've had enough traveling alone to last a lifetime. I will share what I know as soon as I've finished tending to your wounds." Then he proceeds to apply healing herbs to her, as well. As the cleric emerges from the bedroom and speaks with the angelic knight,
Morton uses the last of his herbs to treat
Berthold.
::What I wouldn't give to have a jaw like that:: Morton thinks as he applies paste to the aasimar's wounds.
::I might have followers, too. Groupies, even...::
Having finished with his ministrations,
Morton wipes his hands and puts away the pouch that had held his restorative herbs: empty now. He stands up and addresses the group:
"I am the stranger here; thank you for giving me shelter last night, and now allow me to introduce myself to you all." He looks at the elven scholar again with a sheepish smile, realizing only now that he had failed to introduce himself earlier. "I am Sir Morton, a free knight originally from Niole Dra. If my appearance and manner disturbed any of you last night, I apologize. My only excuse is the stress of our circumstances at the time. I had just spent a day and a night pushing through the Dim Forest before I happened to find you all...and you were all fighting zombies! I was certainly not at my best; I hope I will better represent my gentility now, after rest and a meal."
With that,
Olyena pronounces the stew ready to eat.
rpgventurer says:
Kazzak joins the others at breakfast. He says to Dell,
"I'm ready for our grim task today. Sir Morton recommended burning. I think we have much to learn from his experiences in the Dim Forest." smiles and sets down his spoon.
"Let's see...from the beginning. Five - no, four - days ago, I was in Hochoch when Olpert gathered a group of seven of us Dungeon Busters and sent us on a mission: to find and rescue one of our comrades, a halfling named Joseph, who had disappeared in Orlane during the first expedition to that accursed village. We traveled through the forest for a day and a half without incident, guided by your brother," he addresses
Dell,
"...Chase Brandstone. We camped a bit outside the village that second night - just three nights ago!" He stops and shakes his head.
"Can it be that so little time has passed? Yes, it was only three nights ago that we made camp. In much the same way that I arrived here, a young girl named Ember stumbled into our camp just as we were attacked by goblins riding on giant spiders." He looks at
Kazzak,
"Yet another one of the many dangers here in the Dim! After we defeated the monsters, she told us of her experience in Orlane: she'd come in the evening, met a kindly couple who offered her a place to sleep for the night, but she woke up just as cultists were trying to kidnap her. She escaped their house and ran through the village, but it turned out that the town watch was hunting her, too!"
He sighs.
"Knowing no one else she could trust, she fled into the Dim Forest and kept running until she found us. We were suspicious of her at first," here he looks wryly at each of you,
"but after she risked her life to defeat the goblins at our side, we had no further doubts. At dawn, we convinced her to come with us back to the village to seek some justice...more's the pity." Morton shakes his head.
"Orlane is a small farming village, situated in an area that's been cleared from the Dim Forest on the banks of a small lake in the flow of the Realstream River. Most of the village proper is close to the lake, with three inns, a few shops, several houses, a river mill, and a temple to Merikka sitting atop a low hill to the east like a small fortress. When we started out two days ago, we weren't far from the village, because Chase had pushed us to continue marching through the dark the day before. Some of the others had been to Orlane on an earlier expedition, and they had a contact, whom we met on the edge of Orlane that morning: a human named Ramne. From him we found out that the whole village was up in arms, the village Constable and a temple Priestess telling everyone that we adventurers were the cause of all the recent troubles - people moving away or just disappearing, as well as the deaths of some citizens in the Golden Grain Inn. That last is a legitimate accusation - apparently the others were drugged at that Inn on their first visit and nearly died at the hands of these citizens, who were members of a secret cult that has been kidnapping and/or killing people. The residents formed a town patrol, and it was that patrol that Ember ran into when she got away from the cultists. It's a bad situation; not everyone in Orlane is a member of this cult, but we haven't figured out how to tell the cultists from regular folks...except that some of the cultists sport a marking of a coiled spiral, often green, as a pendant, a ring, a tattoo, or even a scar. We debated whether to continue in daylight or wait for the cover of darkness. We went back into the Dim Forest and waited until night.
[b]"Coming back into the village after nightfall - the night before yesternight - we were startled by the town patrol and scattered. We regrouped at the Golden Grain Inn, but one of our number - a human called Jonel - was gone. He may have run off, he may have been captured..." Morton sighs, running a hand through his long green hair.
"I just don't know. What I do know is that, after a quick discussion, we decided to press on. Ember unlocked the door and we went into the Inn, which still bore the grisly marks of the mortal combat that had taken place a few days earlier; either there weren't enough cultists left to keep the Inn open or they decided not to for some other reason (which is what it turned out to be). Aside from removing bodies, they hadn't cleaned up! We went downstairs to a place the others had seen but not explored: a hidden door in the basement that was barred on the outside. Going through, we found tunnels that had been dug to hide the cult's loot, which was guarded by snakes and a kind of undead creature that paralyzes you with a touch. We were struggling in that fight when we were joined by Lyrel, one of your kin," he nods at
Amnestria,
"who was also a Dungeon Buster sent by both Olpert and then Ramne to help us. We thought the tunnels might lead somewhere, but no, they were just a way for the cultists to dispose of inconvenient bodies and stash their treasure. We surprised a couple of cultists and took them down, then left the tunnels and the Inn, with the idea that we'd investigate the Temple next, to see what was going on with this Priestess. Maybe we could reason with her, if she'd just been misled, or stop her, if she was another evil cultist. But our luck was still bad; as we moved through the night, we were overheard by the innkeeper of the Slumbering Serpent, who formed a second patrol to hunt us. We split up again. After we regrouped, this time Ember was missing. Not wanting to lose another one of our group, Theran the druid and I left to find Ember, and my Lady Arya joined us. But we were caught by the patrol; Theran held them off and bade my Lady and I escape. We got away and followed Ember's trail into the Forest, and that's where we ran afoul of the vile zombies that beat us down and left us for dead. I barely survived, and tended to Arya's wounds. Figuring that Ember was lost, we headed to the Temple, where we were delighted to find Ember still alive! But Theran was missing.
Morton takes a long drink of water, thirsty from so much speaking.
Two others joined us then, adventurers but not Dungeon Busters, who had run afoul of the paranoia in Orlane and were on the run like us: the gnome Eugenios (a kindred spirit from the Keolish capital) and the halfling Ferranzo. Though we came from different places for different reasons, we all wanted to put a stop to the madness. So they went with us into the Temple, and together we overcame some night watchmen and Temple acolytes on the way. Moving upstairs, we found a room filled with skeletons, where..." He chokes up a little.
"My...my Lady was slain. In rage, we destroyed the skeletons. Many of us were hurt, and we argued about what to do. I argued that we should leave, rest, report, and resupply, but I could not convince the rest to set aside their wrath. In the end, I left alone, carrying poor Arya in my arms."
He sighs.
"I can only hope that the others fared better than I; I was wounded, exhausted, and heart-sore, and was nearly discovered by a dwarven warrior when I brought my Lady's body out of the Temple. He went in, and emerged a few minutes later running down the hill. Knowing that I could not overcome such a warrior on my own, I hid. But he returned, leading a large crowd of villagers, before I could get away with Arya's body. In the end, I hid her and drew the others away so that they would not desecrate my Lady or find my companions still in the Temple. I ran, and ran, and ran, with them always on my heels, until I reached the Forest, and kept running. At some point, I lost them, but I knew our only hope was to let Olpert know and get help."
He spreads his hands helplessly.
"That is my shameful story. I ran, in the hopes of telling my story to other Dungeon Busters. Thank you for letting me."
