Rennik's Challenge, Mission and Garyth Intercede
Subject: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
While the last exchange between Cale and Rennik is still echoing in the tower, Rennik's face disappears from the trapdoor above. There are a few quiet moments while Cadfael moves from person to person, quietly praying and laying his hands on wounds. [Garth healed 1 point and stabilized; Cure serious wounds on Mission does 11 (I rolled THREE 2's, sorry Scott); Cure moderate wounds on Garyth does 13].
While he heals the terrible wounds his friends have taken, Mission's wound on his left side is particularly horrific to see, Cadfael rubs the puncture on his neck. He has to admit, it is a tiny hole. Without the paralyzing poison, it would have done nothing worse than sting a bit. But its location is also telling. If the man who had stabbed him had wanted to, he could have cut Cadfael's throat will very little extra effort.
Cale is watching the party closely, but keeping his lips firmly shut. He gives especially black looks to Cadfael, when he notices the miraculous healing that Mission and Garyth receive, and the barely discernable aid that Garth receives. His brother stays crouched by the big fighter's side, but it is clear that whatever Cadfael did for him, outwardly impressive or not, must have helped. Garth is breathing normally again, and his pulse is strong. The big man must be incredibly tough to have taken the beating he did and not be dead.
Garyth has no reason to doubt the man's strength. He keeps one hand pressed to his side with a clean bandage. The hole in his side keeps leaking blood, and even Cadfael's magic did not wholly stop it up. The weapon that delivered this wound must have some vicious enchantment on it. To his companions, Garyth looks very pale and unsteady on his feet. The wound he carries has left him quite weak.
Sa'id sees Farron rooting through the fallen mage's belongings, and moves over to join him. As he walks past the fallen fighter, Cale's brother speaks for the first time. "Going to help your friend rob us?" Sa'id stops to reply, but when he looks down at the man cradling his fallen friend's head in his arms, he finds that he has nothing to say. He too has cradled the head of someone he cared about, and watched them die. Suddenly Sa'id turns away from everyone and walks over to a wall for a moment, seemingly needing to collect himself.
Farron hears little of these exchanges. He is busy going through the mages goods. The wizard's backpack is down by his bedroll, and who knows what treasures it might hold, but the mage himself is also a walking treasury. Farron can barely control little sounds of delight has he finds on the fallen wizard: 10 darts coated with a sticky brown substance, a bright silver amulet worn on a chain around the wizard's neck, a thin metal wand lying a few feet from where the wizard fell, a component pouch with a variety of spell components, four glass vials in a padded leather pouch containing a smoky dark fluid, a scroll, and a leather bag sealed with a strand of silver wire. Farron knows that such seals can sometimes be spells or traps, so he leaves the wire in place for now.
Half a minute or so after Rennik disappeared, he enters the front doorway of the tower. He stands still, chest heaving, and a wild look in his eyes. At his side, his heavy dwarven waraxe dangles from his hand, the head lying on the ground. The hand that holds it is white knuckled and clenches in periodic spasms. It takes several moments before he can even speak. When he does, his voice is raspy with emotion, and has a tone that the rest of his companions have never heard. He says to Cale, "You hurl words at an unseen foe like spears into the darkness, not expecting those spears to be returned. You have insulted and challenged a warrior of the Chorrdath, and I have come to accept your challenge."
He glances down at the weapons that had been taken from the men.
"Take your weapon and put fang behind your venom, or you will quickly learn what happens to a snake with no teeth!"
He then stands motionless, one hand on his trailing axe, and his eyes glittering with hate.
[Anyone can respond. Tom, I need cale's reaction. The rest of the party is sort of scattered about the room, but any of them could take actions following this challenge.]
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
Farron briefly checks each item he recovers from the dead mage then stuffs it into his pack. He is taking another look among the mage's belongings when he hears Rennik enter. The deadly serious tone of the halfling's voice sends a chill down his spine and he is glad that he isn't the one being addressed. As Rennik issues his challenge, Farron eyes the other two survivors. He quietly pulls the found darts out of his pack and holds them ready to strike if either the halberdier or the unnamed thief makes a hostile, or even suspicious move. As for the talkative thief. Well, clearly Rennik has him covered.
While keeping an eye on his two targets, Farron will move quietly over to Sa'id and suggest that maybe he check the area and make sure all enemy weapons are moved to one side of the tower as far away as possible from their foes. He will also offer to split the darts with Sa'id, if he thinks he might need them in the near future.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
BTW, the halberdier is stabilized, but is not conscious. Just an FYI.
From: Tom
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
Cale glances at his brother, and exchanges a long glance with him. He finally sighs. "It seems you're determined to kill every last one us, you bloody warthog. So let's make a deal. If your friend there" -- and here he indicates Mission -- "lets me pick up my sword again, I'll do my best to die dramatically enough for you. In exchange, I want your promise, for whatever it's worth, that you and your men will leave my brother unharmed and leave our things untouched. Even if your honor's not worth spit, at least one or two of you appear to have some steel in your spines."
He points to his sword, still lying on the ground. "Of course, if you'd rather just strike me down unarmed, I suppose that's perfectly in keeping with your approach so far."
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
Mission pushes forward, past Cadfael, grimacing against the pain in his side. Pelor's touch had strengthened him, but not healed him. Mission knew why-- his feet were off the Path. They had strayed off the Path when he consented to attack these men.
Innocent or not, these men did not deserve to be attacked. His eyes stumble over the dead mage-- dead, because he did not stand against his companions. Dead because in his desperation to find Promise, he had been willing to chance the lives of men he did not know, men who may or may not have anything to do with his son, or Anileth.
Would redemption to the Path cost him his soul?
Mission shudders. He knows what he must do. He steps close to Rennick, his back to the others, and says quietly, "The warrior of the Chorrodath must have thin skin, then, if an unarmed, scrawny, CONQUERED man of the cities can leave barbs in his skin with only a few mealy mouthed words."
Mission pulls up his tunic. "These are wounds, Rennick. Any time you want to trade your wounded pride for my sliced up guts, let me know.
"In the meantime, I promised these men they would not be hurt if they surrendered. This man has-- he has given his weapon to me. Therefore, if you want to kill him, you will have to kill me first."
He takes a step or two back, and moves gracefully into Stone-Against-River. (Whole Defense, AC +4)
"Kill me quickly, Rennick," Mission says. "I hate waiting."
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
"For the record," Farron says quietly and with a small cough, "this little squabble is between the two of you. I see no need to promise you anything until you've explained yourselves to our satisfaction."
From: Mike
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
Garyth quickly moves between the Rennik and Cale. The motion jostles his armor, and his face pales even further as one of the studs jabs into his wound. But despite his obvious weakness, there is a resolve in his eyes.
"No, Rennik. I cannot allow this. It was one thing to attack these men when they held our companion. We did what we had to do. But this... This is murder."
Garyth's eyes drop momentarily as he continues. "If you must be angry with anyone for this debacle, it should be me. I am an officer of the Overlook Guard; I should know better than to allow a lone man with no training as a scout or a sneak to go off alone in the night. It was my own lack of foresight that got us into this situation. So if you must strike anyone, strike me. But I will not let you harm this man, no matter what his words may be."
From: Ty
Subject: badger poking; an addendum
For game purposes, Mission and Garyth acted at the same time in interposing themselves between Cale and Rennik. They sort of talked over the top of each other, so play it that way.
From: Tom
Subject: Re: Cleaning up the mess; don't poke a badger with a stick!
Cale visibly shakes with relief; for all his brave talk, he clearly did not want to die. With obvious effort, he manages to speak.
"Thank you both, more than I can say -- but I must insist that my proposal be considered. We're not warriors, and we're going to need everything we have to get these two back home -- and we'll need everypenny we can scrape up from selling their things to bring them back. I'd rather you killed me here, with a promise that my brother would be left with enough gear to make it out alive, than left us both stripped of our things and dragging two dead bodies through the wilderness."
He points to Farron. "It's hard enough to have our friends killed. It breaks my heart to see them robbed of the very goods that we might auction to bring them back."
From: Ty
Subject: a note on taking actions
This recent fight has brought up something that needs to be plainly stated.
If you want your character to take a particular action, you must explicitly state to me, "I want my guy to do this". As the DM, I am under no obligation to make your guy do the sensible thing even when you don't tell me to. If you wanna do it, you gotta say it.
Dan said, "Cadfael sneaks around the tower and casts detect evil." At no point did he say, "He makes sure other people come with him." At no point did the other people say, "We go with him".
Keep that in mind going forward. *smile* I won't stop you from doing dumb stuff. That ain't my job.
My job is to lovingly describe the horrors you experience from doing dumb stuff.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
Mission doesn't move from his stance, and doesn't turn toward the thief. His eyes are on Rennick.
But he says, "After Rennick's done chopping Garyth and me to pieces, you'll get your chance. And what happened to that spirit of charity you so recently exhibited? You're ready to abandon your brother to the woods while Rennick sends you on to a better place?
"Now shut up. I'd rather die without your prattle in my ears."
From: Tom
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
Cale rolls his eyes. Although he's clearly irritated by the suggestion that risking his life for his brother's safety is somehow SELFISH -- and makes no attempt to hide it -- he remains silent.
From: Dan
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
Enough! Rennik, lay down your axe while you're in the tower; I wish no more blood spilled in my name. You said once that you would follow the lead of another when out of your element. This Rennik, this is no longer your element. If you wish for something to do, secure the area. We have made a lot of noise and I do not like to think on what may have heard us.
Mission, I expected more from you. Stop being so eager to seek redemption and start earning it. Is your past so painful that you must goad Rennik to cut you down? Where is the redemption in having one good man cut down another? Or have you learned nothing from what has happened here?
Garyth, enough of your foolish pride. Do you think so highly of yourself as to think you could have foreseen this? You acted bravely and nobly with the information you had. Your shame and guilt are helping no one, least of all yourself.
Farron, Sa'id, what can you tell me of the fallen man's belongings? Does he carry a scroll as the Halflings did?
And you, Cale. You will not be dragging two bodies from these woods, not unless you plan on slitting Garth's throat yourself. He will recover in time, though I will not speed the process. I do not trust him to hold his weapon, and I trust you even less.
Why are you in these woods, Cale? You have evaded the question every time it has been asked. Give us a reason to trust you or stop protesting when we do not.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
"Given the circumstances," Farron says, "I have not yet been able to examine the mage's belongings very closely. I will certainly do so at once."
With that, Farron will closely inspect each of the items, especially the chain and amulet retrieved from the mage's body. For the record those items are:
10 darts coated with a sticky brown substance,
a bright silver amulet worn on a chain around the wizard's neck,
a thin metal wand lying a few feet from where the wizard fell,
a component pouch with a variety of spell components, (NOTE: will be trying to determine the mage's school and spell capabilities from these contents.)
four glass vials in a padded leather pouch containing a smoky dark fluid,
a scroll, and
a leather bag sealed with a strand of silver wire.
He will also enlist Sa'id's help in investigating each item. He will also be on the lookout for any language or symbols that are reminiscent of the scroll that he read before and the amulet Sa'id took from the mage back at the inn.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
OOC: Sa'id is in the midst of a pub crawl, but will help Farron as best he can.
He does not, however, have anything to say to Cale. While he doesn't seem gloomy, he is obviously in a reflective mood and it's clear that he has no wish to talk about it. He extracts the items he found on the halfling cleric from his backpack and will crouch down next to Farron in order to compare them to the dead mage's belongings.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: a note on taking actions
Rennik stares at Mission, rage filling his eyes. He had thought the monk a valuable companion, but he was wrong. He is weak and knows nothing of honor or spiritual matters. Words are power - anyone who doubts that has never crossed paths with an accursed mage. The wordspinner's words corrupted the hearts of his fellows, forced them to doubt, wounded them more deeply than any sword.
The halfling is resolute. The men were in the wrong and made the first attack. They further planned to destroy everyone in the party. No manner of apologies or guilt-inspiring words change that fact.
Mission has been lost. Garyth has been lost. The mages are accursed, and were always lost on some level. Cadfael simply misunderstands, which is unfortunate - this is no longer in his name.
"I have no wish to kill you, monk. Nor you, green swordsman of the human farmlands. Nor did I have wish to see you killed by the likes of the man who you now defend. Had I stayed my hand a moment ago, you would both be lying in your own blood, and I would have spent many arrows avenging your deaths."
"This man's words are open challenge. To deny me that is to deny me entirely."
He glances over the group with derision, shakes his head and snorts a half-hearted laugh.
"I'll leave you to your... element."
With that, he turns, and disappears into the night.