The Journey of the Legend part 7

Once Vlad leaves, We start to talk about what needs to be done next. As I have been drinking with Dani, Max and the apprentices, I"m feeling pretty good about things, mostly the company around me. Just a slightly warmer feeling. But we decide that even though the Ladies have just got back from The Sanctum, we need to go inquire about the files the monks would have prepared for us. Or said they were going to anyway. We get the carriage ready to go out again, with Garfield's help. Sort of. He has been drinking a bit too, and it may have taken a few extra minutes, but we get everything ready, and make our way over. The Silent Monks say nothing, of course as we are lead into the Marquis' office, and as we enter he starts covering up files, putting some away. While I still think we can trust him, it would be nice if he could return that feeling. Asking for the files, he hands some that were on his desk, and we can see that the files are from just about everyone. However, all the files have ink over most of the information. All we can see is the names, which we already had, and the condition they were in when we brought them here. Not much else. Great. Leona's file has some more info in it, but again. Some of it has been crossed out, but it Does say That she had silver chains for security. Probably not good. These guys probably know about her, I mean, they Know my secrets, why wouldn't they know hers. Damn. I'll cross that road when I need to. not before. The files don't have any other leads, but we are given the name of the White dragonborn we are chasing after. Odathwyrm, the Majestic. The rest of the Organization doesn't know who he is working for, and he seems to be in charge of this operation. As we are thinking Odathwyrm is heading for Elon's worksite, we find out where it is, which is the lowest valley of the Incantori Mountain Range. An area I have probably been before, but I can't remember when, or if. Apparently, the work team has been having a bit of a problem with Wildlife. But the team does have a new leader, a Holden Cockswell. A shy fellow, Human Male, who lives outside the city
 
 
Having some new information, and a new lead to go visit this site, so we start heading back to the Estate. Arriving, Garfield meets us in the stable, and it seems he has continued drinking. It is confirmed that the rest of the group has also continued drinking, As Danerai is dancing on one of the tables in the lesser dining room, Her accordion playing on it's own, she is singing for the others in the room, and it seems she is introducing them to the flatware in the house. Melfina, grabbing a wineglass, starts talking to Dani in that strange, beautiful language, and once they switch back to common, I tell them I will have to learn that language itself, and she says she will be happy to teach me the Tongue of the Celestial. Celestials! Well no wonder it sounds so magnificent! But that leads to the Question of Where did Melfina learn it? I will remember to ask her later. Right now, we have to ask what our friends will want to do while we are gone. We are worried about their safety while we are out of town, and while we want to offer them the full use of the Estate, we want them to be comfortable with things while we are gone. Max takes the news of our up coming journey heavily, as I suppose we all should. He also says that he would feel more comfortable back at Home, and we all arrange it so everyone will keep regular contact with each other. Kel and Aurane plan on her operating the business with shortened hours, and I ask Dani to keep an eye on everyone, and she says she will for as long as she is still in town. I briefly wonder to myself if we are trusting her too much. What choice do we have? We Need allies who will do something for us, not just point us in the right path. Plus she is cute. Can't hurt to have that around.
 
We have to take some time before the meeting is supposed to start, and everyone is calming down for the night, so I take the time to examine teh Amulet I found on the oni. It seems to be a small mechanical pendant, and concentrating on it, I feel I can concentrate greatly on the people around me. I wonder if I can use this in combat? While I hope I'll not get that chance, with things going on, I feel that chance will come faster than I would like. I must have been looking at the amulet longer than I realized, because the time to leave for the kidnappers possible meeting was coming up, so we got ready, and left for the temple of Pudge. Getting there with no problem, we take little time finding the right cobble stone which conceals the ladder,and I have Aurane mend the ladder just in case. Melfina, Marda and Rorin go back before me, and Aurane takes up the rear. He lights up his shield, and closes the stone behind him, and we head for the stairs that will lead us further down into the ziggurat under the temple. nearly at the bottom of the stairs, Melfina signals a stop, and I see that she and Marda have craned their necks. Trying hard to hear anything, I can only make out that people are talking ahead. Just low enough for me to hear, but any language they were speaking I would not be able to make out. Oddly enough, Melfina's Turtle, Spike has poked his head out. Her head cocked sideways, Melfina herself seems like she can understand Something that is being said. She passes on the information, and once it reaches me, it has been paraphrased down to: They are talking trash about us, there is another shipment, And there is a lady here in town, that if paid, she will make problems go away. Once Melfina tells Marda the information she draws her weapons, sneaks down the rest of the stairs, and the last I see, she is sauntering into the room to confront those who have talked so poorly of us. I hear chanting come from the room as Marda pulls her swords out and rush in after Melfina. Rorin runs in, followed by myself and Aurane, and chaos greets my vision as I come around the curve of the stair.
 
Small Demonic winged beings fly around the combatants, horrible things with tight skin, 4 legs and wings that look like rotting leaves. I could see the large, spectral scythe that showed up at the last battle, Along with the very Visage of Death that also accompanied her. Marda had cut deeply into the legs of her opponent, and was standing behind them. Rorin was standing next to the farthest enemy, how he got over there so fast still boggles my mind, but I see the nearest rogue has a slash across his back, probably from the Scythe. My axes ready, I run up to him, and trip him. As he falls, I swing my hand axe down, burying the head of the axe into the upper chest, through the collar bone, and start looking for my next target, but get distracted when all the small demons flying around suddenly dive onto the body, and... Eat it. Barely before I could pull my axe away, they start stripping the flesh from the corpse, the man still breathing his last breaths as he is ripped apart. Averting my gaze, I swing at another enemy, but the vision of those small winged creatures has put me off balance and I miss. Aurane enters, and summoning his hammer, he skirts around the edge of the room, cutting off any possible escape. his hammer swings down, and pummels the opponent closest to Melfina. After getting battered by spiritual weapons, the rogue dips his hand down to the knives on his belt, then one flicks forward, and before anyone can blink, a knife blossoms in Melfina's chest, and with a look of shock, she starts to fall back, dying. As she falls the small demon-like creatures vanish from the air around us, as does the Large, Haunting Scythe. The very image of death, hanging in the air, does not disappear however. and It takes offense at someone hurting Melfina, and takes a powerful swipe down into the assailant, who dodges a death blow at just the last minute. Unfortunately for him, he has dodged right into Marda's swords, and she slips a hooked blade around his neck and pulls back, slicing his head off. Turing to the last armed figure, she asks, "Do I have to kill you too?" Dropping his weapon, the last combatant gives up, and Aurane Immediately goes to tend to Melfina, bringing her back from the brink of death.
 
Grabbing some rope from my small pack, I go to tie up our new prisoner, and thinking I do a decent enough job, I start going through his pockets, trying to find anything he may be able to use to get away. See, I can learn from the last time. As I am going through his pockets, he gives me a right hook, which I just shrug off. Pesky Bastard. I cuff him with my metal arm, show him how to properly hit someone, and retie his arms. Marda may have helped. Once we find everything on the bodies, and in the pockets, which totals out to some rather nice gems, and coins, Aurnae steps up to our prisoner and, invoking his Deity, casts a zone of truth. Questioning him about various aspects, we get vague answers, or nothing at all. Rorin hits him once, and we ask him about the undertow. I tell him that the undertow isn't what he thinks it is, that what he thinks is a pathetic sham of an idea, and he spits on me. I pull my axe and move to kill him, and Rorin jumps on my back and Aurane blocks my way, trying to stop me. They don't really stop me physically, but I stop anyway. Apparently my comrades are not done with him. Melfina speaks, "Death does not welcome you, do you have any last wishes?" and giving him very little time, kills him with her knife. Aurane moves to bring him back with his divine abilities, and Melfina scoffs
 
-We stack up on the door to the house. A decent size house in this part of the village, several rooms maybe even a small second story, or at least a Loft. None of us Liked this. going in against possible casters, an Unknown amount of people in the house. We had been watching the house for a few days now, looking to see who came and went, but the window was blocked by shutters and while candle light was often seen in the rooms, no movement was noticed. Only one man had been seen coming or going, and he had enough food for about a dozen people. Grom has his great club out, his weapon of choice as he just liks to bash things into the ground, and Rekx has his hammer ready to break the door in. I had my squad of replacements with me, most of them we had picked up in Dawn's reach as Mercenaries. Able fighters all of them, and loyal to gold, some were not that smart. I had this group for their raw power, and if things got too bad we had a squad of archers across the street, waiting to back us up if we needed it. No One in the Company was willing to admit they had been to Shadowacre, A small Shithole of what could be called Civilization, and fighting in this place seemed to be less than optimal. Plus the fact the the Viceroy of Dawns Reach had only been able to provide us with Rumors of casters coming down this way, and gold, we were not comfortable doing this. But gold is gold. And we weren't Ordered to Kill the casters, just make sure they Are Not Here. So we came here Tonight to finish this mission, and move onto the next job. I signal Rekx to break the door.
 
As the Goliath swings his hammer, the head lands between the two hinges, and splinters fly as the door explodes inwards. Grom and I rush in and he swings his club at the first thing he sees, which is a teenage boy. I am barely able to stop it with my own sword, and take a second to look around. Everyone in the room is a kid, or at least not anyone mature enough be be considered an adult. They need to not be here if spells are going to start going off. Grom has moved on quick, and I need to as well, so I tell the kids to get out of the house, Now! Two Human twins, a boy and a girl lead the others out, including a tiefling, a Tabaxi, an elf, or Half elf, not sure which in this quick time, and a few cloaked figures. As they ran out the door, I start hearing a ruckus from the other room, where Grom has surely met someone. I rush into the back room, and Grom is fighting an old Drow man. "Druss, We have a runner!" grom manages as I enter the room, and he nods his head towards the back door. Grom pushes the Drow back with his attacks, and opens a path for me to run out the back. As I head for the door, I hear screams from the front, but if there is any problems there, we have the rest of my squad, and Second squad out there with their bows. I have someone to catch.
 
Running out the back, I can see a figure running around the side of a hovel, clearly making a break for the outskirts of town. Taking off after him, I can only match his speed, until he stumbles trying to go around the corner of the last building too fast. I come around the corner, the woods mere yards away, and hit a fog cloud. Damn! Well, I guess I've found one of the casters. I can hear him, stumbling around in the cloud, clearly desperate to create some distance between us. I hear him chanting again, and as he finishes his spell~ I find myself on the gound. I must have fallen asleep. No, he must have put me to sleep. Disoriented in this infernal fog cloud, I don't know which way I have come in. I have to spend time looking for our tracks. This is taking too long! I can't find his tracks, but I can clearly see mine, and where I fell asleep. The thought occurs to me I can just move out of the fog cloud. Bah! Why didn't I think of that before. Stupid! I have really taken too much time, I don't want to track this guy myself, in the dark, and I need to get back and check on my squad. I make my way back to the target house, and the screaming that started when I was leaving the house has stopped. I enter the backdoor, and find that the whole fight has stopped. Several smashed pieces of furniture are all that is left in this back room, and the front room is the same. I can see through the open frame of the front door, that everyone seems to be gathered out front. I head out to get a report, only to find bodies... What? Where did all these... Oh no. The old Drow was dead, on the ground, arrows through him, and... kids. some of the kids didn't make it. Dead. 3 small bodies lay on the ground, arrows, some half as long as the body they hit. Why? what the hell happend? Something tries to get my attention, but I just don't notice. I find myself kneeling on the ground, unable to move, looking at the kids who will never get to grow up. Hell. It was supposed to be so simple. just a couple of casters that we jsut had to chase away. there wern't supposed to be kids. and we sure as hell didn'twant to kill them.. what happened... I look to my squad, all looking grim, and
~"I Have Seen This Tourture Before, I Have Caused It And Lived It. Nothing Will Change What You Feel Now. But We Must Move Forward. Death Is The Only Thing That Is Sure. We Must Leave Now. "
 
-I look up to see Melfina standing over me. I have been crying, and I somehow wandered over to a corner. We are still under the temple of Pudge, but it is just Her and I now. everyone else is gone. My mind is fuzzy, and I let her guide me out. Everything seems numb. We get up and out of the temple area, and I let instinct guide me with the others. I have no idea where we are going, or even where we are. I can only think back the that dreadful night. I remember finding out later that Grom and Rekx had been hit by a blinding spray, which gave the old Drow time to run out the front. one of the kids had cast something, just making thunder boom, and the archers, not knowing who the kids were, panicked, thinking the smaller kids were fully growing gnomish and halfling casters, throwing spells at them. The kids had scattered in the confusion, and 5 had gotten away, including the tiefling who had cast the thunderous Boom. 3 however, had not. Nor had the old man whose house it had been.
 
As the group continues on, I finally realize that we are nearly to the Sanctum. I guess we are taking the prisoner to the sanctum as we couldn't get anything out of him. When we get up to the gate, one of guard audibly sighs. I guess we have been coming around a good amount. Marda informs one of the guards of the attempts to gather information from the captive, as we are lead to the Marquis' office, we are told they are not in at the moment, as it is past midnight, they have gone to sleep. We wait a few blessed minutes, where I can try to think of what is going on, and when they finally show up, in their dressing robe, they say the sanctum can probably get some information out of the thief. They also are worried that this criminal organization is after the new Rail system, and we should check it out if we are going out to hunt down Elon's Killer, and there is also a Hydra in the area. not a fun thing to tangle with, but we will get a bonus if we kill it. As The Marquis decides to go back to bed, I start feeling more myself, and we all notice that we are once again, standing in this office, covered in blood. This is happening way, to often recently. We all decide to go clean off in the baths again, and this time, we all find each other in the same bath. As we soak in the water, we all notice each other's bodies, or rather, our scars. While Rorin and Aurane have bruising, and Marda has a good amount, Melfina has a surprising amount. there seem to even be very large scars on her back, almost as if wings had been there. I recall the large skeletal wings that had sprouted there before, what exactly is this Human? And While the rest of her is attractive enough, the fresh memories of that terrifying wraith, and the glowing eyes, puts any other thoughts about her to the side.
 
Clean, tired and wanting to get home, we Head back to the estate. While I am feeling better, I am still shaken up from my past episode. As we get back to the estate, Max answers the door, and leads us inside. apparently Dani had left for the night, but said she would be back in the morning. Garfield and the two assistants are asleep, and Max offers to pour us a drink. He is not surprised when I ask for something stronger than ale, even though I don't normally drink harder things. He can tell when I have had problems, and he hands me a Large flask from inside his vest. After taking a couple mouthfulls, I hand it back and head to bed. As I leave the room and head to my temporary chambers, I can barely hear the others talking, as I slowly feel the liquor taking effect.
 
As we get ready in the morning, Melfina says a prayer is the beautiful language of hers, and as we are about to leave, Max comes to me and hands me a... Blanket? He tells me that his Father had given him this blanket when he was leaving for the Legion, and it served him well. I look at it, and it is... old. I mean, Old, worn, patched it looks like this blanket was around 400 years ago, like before the caster wars. I try to thank Max as best as I can, as this blanket clearly means a lot to him, and we go over to the Temple of Kusco to try to find a steed for me. Most normal horses can't carry me, and it was suggested we go to Kusco to try to find something bigger. And when we get there, we sure do. They are called Moorbounders. A large, tailless, cat like creature, with tusks that come up to either side of the snout. we try the # the temple has, and it is not until the last one that the trainers tell us the beast likes me. Apparently, I am shiny, and it likes that. Great. I don't like feeling like a toy, but that is how it is going to go. I learn the beasts commands, and am told that it has the name of mittens. OF course it does. I guess I better get attached to it, as the Shop will owe the temple upwards of 150 gold if we don't return it in one piece. Great. Another grand adventure.