Turn 66

Brief Recap: We last left the story with Fyona and Blade outside the north wall of Pastille. Bruce deals with the loss of his home. It is still winter, just past the new year.

To Return A Blade

The pain in Fyona's arm has scarcely subsided. Though pouring healing potions on the stump healed it, stopping the bleeding and possibly reducing the chance of infection, it is still a terrible wound. Her severed arm has begun to smell, and it is shriveled and blackening. Fyona carries it wrapped in a section of a cloak she tore away. The worst part is that she can still feel her hand, even though it was severed. When she closes her eyes she can clench her fist and actually feel her fingers curling in on her palm. But when she opens them, she can see that it is only an illusion. Luckily, Fyona is left handed.

[Actually, she'd be ambidextorus since duelsists can fight with a weapon in either hand with no penalty. Plus I already drew a picture of her with her rapier in her right hand. ]

[We rolled, and she is left handed.]

The first several nights her dreams were consumed with thoughts of her arm. Dreams of still having her arm and fighting with both her rapier and main gauche and erotic and passionate dreams of the pleasures of touching flesh. But soon, she found herself sobbing each night. The dreams had changed to reflect her fears of ridicule and disgust. And then they changed again, now she only has one dream. She's standing engaged with Vingret, but this time she watches as the sword she now cares takes off her head. But what she finds most troubling about this all is that she awakes from this dream with a feeling of calm and relief.

Blade feels horrible about Fyona's loss and the sound of her weeping in her sleep only makes him feel worse. He blames himself for what happened to her. If she hadn't accompanied him back to Bruce's abode the second time then this would not have happened. Of course he'd likely be dead if she hadn't. It had not escaped Blade's notice that she had dispatched both Thaddius AND Vingret. "I'm sorry for what happened . " Blade says to her. "I never should have gotten you involved in this. It wasn't your fight and nothing was really accomplished anyway. If Bruce really didn't send the mercs after us in teh mountains I'm sure he'll be sending some now. " After a short pause he says "Thank you for saving my life by the way. I don't think I had a chance to tell you in all of the excitement. I am in your debt. "

"There is no debt." saysFyona.

"Perhaps not in your mind, but in mine there is. I was lucky you where there. The Lady works in mysterious ways. "

Blades apology stirs feelings of bitterness in Fyona but not towards him towards the swordsman that took her arm. She wishes he was alive again so she could torture him before his death. "However, I would like to know why that man was after you and if he was sent by someone else so that I may someday have the opportunity to share with them the gifts of this sword," indicating her new rapier.

Blade thinks back into the past and relates the story of Vingret to her.

[A bit of backstory: From Turn 1: A woman catches Bruce's eye; familiarity dawns, but the name eludes him. She quickly passes from view. Next to catch Bruce's ever-wandering eye is the angry red- rimmed one of Count Vingrot, whose anger turns to a snide smile at the look on Bruce's face. Old debts are to be settled, then, thinks Bruce, as he remembers the circumstances of their flight from Heklamar so long ago. ]

Blade knows Count Vingrot from his youth in Heklamar. The Count was one of the more powerful noblemen in the Northern Kingdom, one of the few with indirect familial claim to the throne. The Count's family is large, and he has several sons who would by now have reached maturity. In the old adventuring days of the Company of the Thorn, the company had crossed Vingrot's path more than once, each time increasing their dislike for one another. The situation came to a head when Bruce and Blade had snuck into his castle on a mission to kill one of the Count's guests, because the guest was a foul mage who had swindled the two of them weeks earlier out of several thousand gold.

Bruce and Blade were discovered. They failed to achieve their mission, and in the process managed to kill several people as they made their escape from the botched job. The Count swore to see their blood on his sword as they fled.

It was for this reason that the Company of the Thorn disbanded officially, its members scattering to the four winds. Their first reunion (Turn 1) had been discovered by Vingrot, and he captured them and took them to the King's Court expecting justice. Instead, the adventurers were sent on a mission which made them heroes.

"Now that I tell this tale to you, it is apparent to me, that both Bruce and I have been played as fools. Thaddius it seems has always been in the employ of Vingrot. A spy in Bruce's camp. So Bruce was not lying when he said that Thaddius acted without orders the first time a party was sent to kill us in the past timeline. Nor the second time in the mountains just a short time ago."Blade sighs remorsefully. "I was so sure it was Bruce, especially after his heated words upon our departure. Regardless, the damage is done, I'm sure Bruce's desire for revenge will outweigh his logic, just as it did mine. Vingrot's plan worked well and continues to so so , even after his death. I fear that it will not end until either he or I are dead, possibly both." after speaking these words Blade feels ashamed as he remembers Fyona's condition. She had sacrificed a limb to save his life over a lie. No amount of apologies could make up for that. He was a bastard.

Fyona tries to follow what Blade is saying but she finds it difficult to think of anything besides herself. She is aware and disturbed by her self pity but as of yet unable to stop it. "I think we should try to find Mog. Maybe he can do something about my arm. At the least he may know who can and he knows Bruce too right. Maybe he can help with that also. We should send message to him once we get to the city and you send Bruce flowers or candy or something."

Blade turns his thoughts to how Fyona's arm can be mended. Blade has known many people who have lost limbs, but he has never met anyone claiming to have had one grown back. The only rumor he has ever heard was that "The Prophet" could work miracles, like healing lepers and the blind, and he thinks he might just have heard a rumor that the prophet regrew a man's leg once, but Blade was drunk and can't remember if that was an actual rumor or just a song extolling the Prophet's virtues. The Prophet is the leader and founder of a religion that has swept the southern continent, mostly peacefully but partly brutally. The prophet's followers do not cast any spells though. His powers are said to come directly from the one true God. Blade decides not to tell Fyona this. He doesn't want to give her false hope, though he intends to make some inquiries of his own once they get to civilized lands.

[DM NOTE 66-6: Fyona would know about the Prophet too, he is known almost world wide now.]

[Do you try sticking the arm in the bag? Please describe what you try to do.]

The first chance they got almost immediately after climbing the city wall, Blade placed teh arm inside the bag, packed with ice and snow. The first nightfall they leave teh arm buried in the snow in the cold winter night and it is completely frozen by morning. Then place it in the bag, surrounded with ice and snow to keep it that way . The snow and ice would meltt a little due to my body heat but not much at all. Would re-pack as necessary. If necessry the arm coufd be re-frozen nightly with the temperature drop by placing it in teh snow]

Fyona had intended to remain cloaked indefinitely, but apparently the cloak is not designed for such prolonged use. It had stopped working after about an hour of continuous use. Twenty-four hours later it seemed to work normally again.

The two marched northward three days outside Pastille, avoiding the main roads for fear of pursuit. At the first farmstead they found, they snuck in and stole the only horse--a fairly healthy though aging mare, more used to a yoke than riders. Having no saddle, the two adventurers ride bareback. Both of them feel as though they are being sawed in half by the mare's rough gate.

[Turn 66-10: altered Blade's HP and the number of potions left, below:]

Between the two of them, they only have three healing potion left between them. [NOTE Fyona is at max hit points, Blade is at 77.] They stole some meat from the farmer too, which must have been his last pig. They have enough food to last at least another two weeks, including their rations. Water is less of a problem, as they were able to refill at the farm house's pump before they stole the horse. Besides, they can always melt snow to drink. They also left a few gems for the farmer to pay for the items they took.

The farm now far behind them, they ride generally north, though their need to avoid the main road creates delay. They frequently have to work along deep gully's and other natural obstacles, and they make very poor time.

They make camp on their eighth day out. Fyona's severed arm reeks badly. [This reads poorly since I edited out the references to food.] The next morning, they rise early and head north once again. Neither of them is a tracker, and they can only guess at how far away the main road is, which they believe is to their right (east of them). By noon, this idea is verified by the distant sight of a caravan headed north.

The two stop their horse and dismount behind a hill so as not to be seen. The caravan is a great distance away, several miles. It appears to comprise at least three wagons and several mounted people.

[What do you do? Continue north? If so, your food will run out ) eventually) and you will begin to (temporarily) lose constitution points and strength points as you starve. If you lose too many (i.e., severe starvation), there will be a chance to permanently lose some ability points. You can try to hunt, but neither of you has such skills and your chances of success will be next to nil.]

"What do you think? There is saftety in numbers but we can't be sure if they are friendly or not. Most war parties don't travel with wagons though. Too slow."

"If they're not friendly we'll just have to kill them." Fyona grabs the horses mane in her hand and throws her leg over the back of the horse and looks down at Blade. "Let's go."

Blade looks at her, a wry smile coming over his face upon hearing her response. "Remind me never to piss you off, " he says leaping onto the horse behind her.

_____

Flashback: On the Farm

Nellie, the dirty faced daughter of a sodbuster, runs inside: "Daddy! Somebody done stole Big Holly!"

The farmer, sitting at his meager breakfast, curses as his daughter says this, and runs outside.

A few minutes later he returns, cursing even worse, which makes Nellie cry. It was true, their only horse was gone. Horse thieves must have snuck in during the night and somehow gotten Holly out without causing a ruckus. Not that Holly would resist, she was a friendly horse and would go wherever anyone led her. The farmer still owes on the horse, having agreed to pay a percentage out of five years' harvest for her. Only two years have passed, and the farmer will still have to pay the farmer's co-operative out of his next three years' harvests, which he doesn't know how he will even plant without Big Holly to pull their crude plow.

The farmer stops cursing and sits little Nellie on his lap. He knows she gets scared when he curses. He smoothes her greasy hair with his calloused hand and whispers, "Don' worry Nel, it'll be alright. Nobody stole her, we had to let her go. It was her time, and now she's off grazin' in them green fields up in `Lysium. In fact, yer momma's a-ridin' her, came to me last night when I was prayin' and told me so. So dry them tears, we'll make due."

The farmer heads into his bedroom, and prays before the shrine to his dead wife for strength. Then he notices, there, in the offering bowl where he usually burns incense, three small red gems. "Well I'll be! Nellie, come quick! Praise Mitra! It looks like Hollie done left us a goin' away present!" The farmer's own tears now roll freely down his face.

_____

The Crown of Acererak

Brief Recap: Last time we followed this story, Humphrey and Nepal had fought Fzllch, a strange and slimy creature with tentacles for a mouth. Humphrey used his crown numerous times to defeat the creature and its minions, also using the crown on Nepal both inadvertently and intentionally a total of six times. They acquired the Book of Na'Greb, as well as some other non-magical but very old books.

Returning Home

The two mages walk the long route back to the place they arrived at the underground city. From there, Nepal leads Humphrey through a densely populated area of warrens that eventually leads to daylight. Above ground, there is another settlement, this one also poverty stricken like that below. Humphrey does not know what is happening to this land, but it appears the entire region is populated with nothing but refugees. He can see in many peoples' eyes that they have recently endured great loss. When Humphrey asks Nepal about this, he answers with a single word: "War."

* * *

Several days later, the two mages are on the Western Road. Having no mounts, the make their way on foot. It will be many weeks journey, but neither of them can safely teleport them any closer to their goal. Nepal's holdings are all to the south, and Humphrey has not spent enough time at his new home to teleport there. However, he does have his crystal ball. One evening he uses it to scry on his servant [Insert his name here, I forgot it].

To Humphrey's surprise, the man is a wreck. Humphrey sees that he has been pulling out his own hair, and there is a truly mad look in his eyes. Of course Humphrey can't hear what the man is saying, he can only watch. The sight is disturbing. [The servant] rocks back and forth at times, mumbling something, then occasionally bursts into action, working at the house, frantically cleaning and rearranging furniture. Humphrey stops watching after several minutes of this behavior, as the longer he scries, the worse [the servant] gets. He fears some power has driven the man insane, and immediately his thoughts jump to the demon head he secreted in the basement. Could prolonged proximity to the thing do this? Humphrey does not know.

The next morning the two break camp early and begin their march. Humphrey has never been so sore in his life, the trek taking its toll on his aging bones. Nepal seems unaffected by their pace. After a couple of hours, Humphrey suggests a brief rest. To his surprise, Nepal bursts forth angrily, "Is that a COMMAND?!" A look of extreme anger is on his face.

Nepal looks as surprised as Humphrey. He quickly lowers his tone, and apologizes. "Humphrey, this is becoming a problem. With each passing day, I find myself brooding more and more on the crown. I hate it. And that hatred is extending to you. We are true friends, and I would never betray you. We've saved each others' lives. But I fear this thing is affecting my mind in some way. Humphrey, last night I dreamt I murdered you in your sleep."

"Yes, I feel it too. Perhaps we should change our course and go to speak with the Sage Egmund. He might know what to do with the crown. I agree, something must be done with it. But before we go there, I fear I must return to my keep as something strange is going on there. The Demon Head I secreted in the basement might be having an effect on my staff. I am not sure why, but I know that I must go there immediately."

Posting Instructions: Please add as you like, and feel free to revise any actions I have portrayed you as taking.

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