Dardek watches Talon do his right as he was going to say a few words "Errr yes or we can do that, I suppose" Dardek looks at the other two while Talon strokes the bone.
Talon kneels there, hands exploring the remains of the deceased, as he slowly reaches up to rub scaled fingers over their skulls.
"Yesyes, I knows." He whispers in eerie kinship with those who did not come back from beyond the veil as he did. "Yesyes...it is scary. But there is no needs to be afraid now hm? There is nothing left that can hurt you. You cans stay here and enjoys your place amongst the foresteses yes. We'll share with you for this night."
Ashley watches with morbid curiosity as Talon speaks to the skeletons. Once he rises she asks, "What do you feel we should do with them? Leave them, bury them, build a cairn?" she goes with whatever Talon wants feeling that he is closest with the dead out of all of them.
After that is decided she starts gathering firewood to build a fire. She sits next to the wood pile she has put together and smiles. She reaches out her right hand, fingers splayed and she looks at her hand for a moment. Then, in a fluid motion, she flicks her hand around by the wrist and flame erupts in her palm. Holding it there for a moment, letting the fire light dance and reflect in her eyes, she then tosses it onto the bundle of wood. Seemingly happy with the situation.
Nib sits down beside Ashley at the campfire. Earlier, if others would allow, he builds a simple, stone cairn to cover the bones and achieve some sense of a final “resting place” for them. As he sits and stares into the fire, he pulls out his dagger and the tips of his arrow heads, sharpening them. He says to himself as he stares into the fire, almost in a trance, “As iron sharpens iron, so one sharpens another…”. He seems lost in thought, pondering the actions of the day.
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A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
You light the campfire easily and with little reaction from your companions. They know who you are now and what you can do. They don't seem to be demand anything from you or your abilities... One of them died and came back to life to protect you, and they even brought you back from the brink of death when you were mortally injured by the bugbear's javelin. It's strange, this life. These people. The almost oppressive freedom of it. Like a dream... Meanwhile, your actual dreams feel more like real life. At least the life you remember...
As you prepare your bedroll, you remember that Brother Emmitt and his cage are never further than the back of your eyelids. Every time you lose consciousness you risk returning to that hell... But you embrace it, in faith that you'll open your eyes to a new day, and fresh travels with the companions who've stood by you through so much in such a short period of time.
Dardek:
You study the bodies for a moment, searching for something to say. A half orc and a dwarf from the looks of it. Thin strips of leather on the half-orc suggest deteriorated leather armor. The dwarf's skeleton offers you nothing. Were they friends? Enemies? Lovers? The answer is lost to time... But you've heard many funeral services in the temple where you were raised. You feel confident you can do this.
The order used a standard script. The elders would speak of Qoneus being more than just the Father and Protector of the Great Wheel... but also an observer... That no deed great or small escaped His notice. That no life was insignificant or forgotten... That we are all remembered in The Great Father's heart. The same is true for these two lost souls... whoever they were in life, they can take comfort knowing that the Great Father knows their name, witnessed their lives without judgement. They they... That no one... is ever truly alone.
You say your words and let them hang in the air. None of the others reply or make comment as they ready themselves for sleep. It's unclear whether they were even listening. But, in your heart, you feel a warm, otherworldly glow... A blessing. Someone was listening, and found favor. That's what it was. You don't know how you know... but you know.
Nib:
You quietly and carefully build the cairn for the two skeletons...
Something about the pair of them lying there in such quiet repose evokes a deep memory. Your parents' wake. How much they didn't look like themselves. How unnatural it seemed that they were there... yet not. How Finn never left your side the whole time, nervously chit-chatting in hopes that it would be a comfort. How all the grown ups... some you'd never seen before in your life... squeezed you and wailed as if they had some innate right to your grief... a grief you, yourself, felt numb to.
With each stone you place, you recall the many bodies you saw that season... The season of the horrible flood. You see the body of the man in the boat... the one you and Pal discovered... the one that served as the "birthing carcass" for your some of your future saviors...
You see the body of talon bleeding out on the raft... Your eyes move to the kobold, remembering that it was Her magic that brought him back. Her... That Sally whatsername... The one who said she made the flood. The one who says she took your parents from you... But gave life to him.... Why? What would she do that?
You place the final rock on the cairn and quickly refocus your attention to purge the train of thought from your mind. Grabbing your arrows, examining the arrow tips, you feel a keen sense of safety and security. With these, you get to be the one turning living bodies into dead ones. Not that you're about to got and seek out the chance.... but when you remember how good it felt sinking an arrow into that raven person... and the bugbear... coooo.... that sense of control is something you could get used to....
Talon:
The embers of the dying fire crackle peacefully as the party beds down for the night... All except for you.
As you sits still, your awareness extends to all of the dead, dying and decaying things that surround you in this wood... Seems like you can almost perceive the various fungi, bacteria and insect swarms that are drawn to expired flesh, break it down and create fertile soil for new life. The movement and the sound of it... like music. A feast.... A party he's not invited to.
As these thoughts and sensations soak into your reanimated brain, your realizes there's another sound mixed in with your perceptions... A slight stirring of rock against rock. Without moving your body your eyes turn toward the source of the sound... toward the cairn.
You see a few rocks tumble from the top... Probably just the halfling went and did it wrong, you think at first... But then you hear a crunching sound... Like something gnawing, on something hard... cracking it...
Then, a more dramatic shift takes place... unmistakably intentional... The rocks of the cairn fall away as something pulls one of the skeletons out from within....
In the darkness you can barely make out its shape, humanoid... crouched on all fours, the dwarf's femur clenched in its mouth like a dog. What little light remains in the glowing embers reflects in the creatures glassy black eyes. It sees you seeing it and decides to act quickly. It hisses and yanks the rest of the skeleton out with a decisive vigor that practically shouts out "Mine! Leave me alone!" as it tries to escape into the darkness, dragging the skeleton with it.
What would you like to do?
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DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Talon considers the thing that is raiding the cairn. He watches it, listens to the rocks falling over one another. Sees the femur, or whatever bone that is in its mouth.
Only a few days ago, Talon, the old Talon, would have panicked at the very sight of this thing and its proximity to them. This new iteration, though, doesn't worry. Not yet, anyway. He stays still and watches, even as the thing hisses at him, making off with the skeleton of the dwarf.
The dwarf was dead. Death was a natural part of life. Everything died eventually. Some things, it seemed, may have to die more than once. Regardless of that, Talon knew that the dwarf's remains were now a part of nature. He could feel the creatures living in the duff and detritus around them, could practically feel the cell division of fungi breaking down dead leaves and plant matter all around them. What, then, was the difference for the dwarf's body? Why treat it differently than a dead leaf?
He breaks his motionless state for only a second to wave at the thing as it leaves...trying to show he means it no harm...
Warm sunlight peeks through the forest canopy. The sound of birdsong eases you back into consciousness. You open you eyes. All seems well.
It's a strange, but delightfully welcome feeling... You actually managed to slept entirely through the night without any disturbances. You may actually have your wits about you as you consider your next steps... either continuing onward toward the half-elven settlement, or venturing off randomly to search for this mysterious well. Either way, at least now, in this moment, you feel safe and well-rested.
Relief passes over each of you as you survey your surroundings.... but an inaudible record scratch disrupts your serenity as your eyes fall on the ransacked cluster of stones that was once a carefully constructed cairn...
And there... just as you left him, is Talon, crouched where he was, surveying the scene impassively, paying no mind to the obvious evidence that something must have happened last night.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Ashley stretches and lays there a bit on the bedroll thinking about the last few days. She can't help but smile, it's been crazy, but its been wonderful all at the same time. She has friends.. she's never had friends before. She recalls last night as she made the fire of her own volition, something she rarely did as it was so often extracted out of her, and it felt good. She wasn't judged, she wasn't even questioned by those around her and that made all the difference.
She sat up and was surprised by the fall of the cairn, looking over to Talon, she asks, "Anything happen last night? Everything alright? Are you good?" she doesn't look concerned, still smiling, just more curious than anything.
Dardek slept like a baby. He stretches and groans loudly before sitting up and looking around. “Good Morning friends! My best friends….my only friends. How was everyone’s night?”
Nib is the last to stir, giving a long stretch of his little body before he sits bolt upright. “Pancakes. I was dreaming of pancakes and syrup, and eating eggs for breakfast. Sally’s face smilin at me. Hah. Isn’t it strange, dreams? Like different lives, playing out in our mind overnight.” *big stretch*. Nib stands, gathering his things and looking to everyone with a smile. At last his eyes come around to the cairn that he took time to build. “Talon! What happened? What disturbed our burial place? Were you watching? How was the night?” Nib stands with hands on hips, a tiny little bit of frustration that somehow his work from yesterday was disturbed. He starts looking for the bones that were contained within.
Dardek looks at what Nibs is doing and gasps a bit "Do you think they came to life and are waiting to ambush us?" Dardek frantically begins looking high and low with his head on a swivel
Talon looks very nonchalant as everyone begins to wake up and stir, even as Ashley and Nib seem to have some concerns about the cairns being disturbed. Well, at least Nib. Maybe Ashley was just wanting to ask him how he was.
"It was a good night." Talon says, nodding to Ashley. "It was cool and the bugs weren't picking at me too bad. And I was alone most of the night. But, oh!"
As if Nib has jogged his memory.
"YesTalonwatched! Yes, there was this thing..." He uses hand gestures to describe how it looked, raising his hands up to his head like he's creating some dread creature. "It came out of the woods, hm, and then it got the bones!"
He points to the cairns.
"It was very ferocious! It got the bones, and then I waved at it! And then it was my friend, and it took the bones into the woods to uh...eat, I guess? Thatisagoodwaytoendthestoryofbonesyes? Nowtheynourishtheliving!"
“It ate… the bones? What the heck was it? I’m surprised that it didn’t come back to eat you! What direction did it go? I think we need to stay as far away from it as we can. Didn’t you think to .. wake us up? Next time, if something is crawlin around, eating bones that we tried to bury - - wake us up!” Nib stands there looking at Talon and crosses his little arms, tilting his head. Under his breath he says to himself, “Pal sure would’ve…”.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Ashley puts her hand on the kobold's shoulder. "Yes, it is a good way for bones to end, to nourish the living. But if something is ferocious... what if it had gone for one of us instead of the bones, what would you have done?"
Talon raises a finger and points in the direction the creature went.
"Tookbonesthatway." He says, nodding. Then his brow creases. "Wake you up? For whats purpose? Thing was here to eatbones hm? Gone for us? If it had gone for us Talons wakes us up. But its didn't cuz it eats bones, and left with bones, and didn't try to bother us."
Nib looks at Dardek with a naughty look on his face, saying “What kind of … stuff? What kind of work are you doin over there at night in your bedroll, all alone?” Nib starts snickering to himself and walks a brief way in the direction Talon pointed, looking in vain for any sign of a creature. He comes back shrugging his shoulders and starts to gather things, making ready to go.
Dardek hears Nibs but is scared silly by Talon’s whisper that Dardek turns ghostly white. He opens his mouth to yelp but nothing comes out….he feels lightheaded and goes to sit down
Ashley frowns and looks from Talon to Dardek and back. She then heads over to Dardek and asks, "Are you alright? What did Talon say to you? Cause we need to get moving if we're going to find that well."
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Dardek watches Talon do his right as he was going to say a few words "Errr yes or we can do that, I suppose" Dardek looks at the other two while Talon strokes the bone.
Talon kneels there, hands exploring the remains of the deceased, as he slowly reaches up to rub scaled fingers over their skulls.
"Yesyes, I knows." He whispers in eerie kinship with those who did not come back from beyond the veil as he did. "Yesyes...it is scary. But there is no needs to be afraid now hm? There is nothing left that can hurt you. You cans stay here and enjoys your place amongst the foresteses yes. We'll share with you for this night."
He rises and squints, thinking of something.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Ashley watches with morbid curiosity as Talon speaks to the skeletons. Once he rises she asks, "What do you feel we should do with them? Leave them, bury them, build a cairn?" she goes with whatever Talon wants feeling that he is closest with the dead out of all of them.
After that is decided she starts gathering firewood to build a fire. She sits next to the wood pile she has put together and smiles. She reaches out her right hand, fingers splayed and she looks at her hand for a moment. Then, in a fluid motion, she flicks her hand around by the wrist and flame erupts in her palm. Holding it there for a moment, letting the fire light dance and reflect in her eyes, she then tosses it onto the bundle of wood. Seemingly happy with the situation.
Nib sits down beside Ashley at the campfire. Earlier, if others would allow, he builds a simple, stone cairn to cover the bones and achieve some sense of a final “resting place” for them. As he sits and stares into the fire, he pulls out his dagger and the tips of his arrow heads, sharpening them. He says to himself as he stares into the fire, almost in a trance, “As iron sharpens iron, so one sharpens another…”. He seems lost in thought, pondering the actions of the day.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Dardek says a few words as Nibs does the manual labor. He too then sits by the fire, quiet, staring into the flames
Ashley:
You light the campfire easily and with little reaction from your companions. They know who you are now and what you can do. They don't seem to be demand anything from you or your abilities... One of them died and came back to life to protect you, and they even brought you back from the brink of death when you were mortally injured by the bugbear's javelin. It's strange, this life. These people. The almost oppressive freedom of it. Like a dream... Meanwhile, your actual dreams feel more like real life. At least the life you remember...
As you prepare your bedroll, you remember that Brother Emmitt and his cage are never further than the back of your eyelids. Every time you lose consciousness you risk returning to that hell... But you embrace it, in faith that you'll open your eyes to a new day, and fresh travels with the companions who've stood by you through so much in such a short period of time.
Dardek:
You study the bodies for a moment, searching for something to say. A half orc and a dwarf from the looks of it. Thin strips of leather on the half-orc suggest deteriorated leather armor. The dwarf's skeleton offers you nothing. Were they friends? Enemies? Lovers? The answer is lost to time... But you've heard many funeral services in the temple where you were raised. You feel confident you can do this.
The order used a standard script. The elders would speak of Qoneus being more than just the Father and Protector of the Great Wheel... but also an observer... That no deed great or small escaped His notice. That no life was insignificant or forgotten... That we are all remembered in The Great Father's heart. The same is true for these two lost souls... whoever they were in life, they can take comfort knowing that the Great Father knows their name, witnessed their lives without judgement. They they... That no one... is ever truly alone.
You say your words and let them hang in the air. None of the others reply or make comment as they ready themselves for sleep. It's unclear whether they were even listening. But, in your heart, you feel a warm, otherworldly glow... A blessing. Someone was listening, and found favor. That's what it was. You don't know how you know... but you know.
Nib:
You quietly and carefully build the cairn for the two skeletons...
Something about the pair of them lying there in such quiet repose evokes a deep memory. Your parents' wake. How much they didn't look like themselves. How unnatural it seemed that they were there... yet not. How Finn never left your side the whole time, nervously chit-chatting in hopes that it would be a comfort. How all the grown ups... some you'd never seen before in your life... squeezed you and wailed as if they had some innate right to your grief... a grief you, yourself, felt numb to.
With each stone you place, you recall the many bodies you saw that season... The season of the horrible flood. You see the body of the man in the boat... the one you and Pal discovered... the one that served as the "birthing carcass" for your some of your future saviors...
You see the body of talon bleeding out on the raft... Your eyes move to the kobold, remembering that it was Her magic that brought him back. Her... That Sally whatsername... The one who said she made the flood. The one who says she took your parents from you... But gave life to him.... Why? What would she do that?
You place the final rock on the cairn and quickly refocus your attention to purge the train of thought from your mind. Grabbing your arrows, examining the arrow tips, you feel a keen sense of safety and security. With these, you get to be the one turning living bodies into dead ones. Not that you're about to got and seek out the chance.... but when you remember how good it felt sinking an arrow into that raven person... and the bugbear... coooo.... that sense of control is something you could get used to....
Talon:
The embers of the dying fire crackle peacefully as the party beds down for the night... All except for you.
As you sits still, your awareness extends to all of the dead, dying and decaying things that surround you in this wood... Seems like you can almost perceive the various fungi, bacteria and insect swarms that are drawn to expired flesh, break it down and create fertile soil for new life. The movement and the sound of it... like music. A feast.... A party he's not invited to.
As these thoughts and sensations soak into your reanimated brain, your realizes there's another sound mixed in with your perceptions... A slight stirring of rock against rock. Without moving your body your eyes turn toward the source of the sound... toward the cairn.
You see a few rocks tumble from the top... Probably just the halfling went and did it wrong, you think at first... But then you hear a crunching sound... Like something gnawing, on something hard... cracking it...
Then, a more dramatic shift takes place... unmistakably intentional... The rocks of the cairn fall away as something pulls one of the skeletons out from within....
In the darkness you can barely make out its shape, humanoid... crouched on all fours, the dwarf's femur clenched in its mouth like a dog. What little light remains in the glowing embers reflects in the creatures glassy black eyes. It sees you seeing it and decides to act quickly. It hisses and yanks the rest of the skeleton out with a decisive vigor that practically shouts out "Mine! Leave me alone!" as it tries to escape into the darkness, dragging the skeleton with it.
What would you like to do?
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Talon considers the thing that is raiding the cairn. He watches it, listens to the rocks falling over one another. Sees the femur, or whatever bone that is in its mouth.
Only a few days ago, Talon, the old Talon, would have panicked at the very sight of this thing and its proximity to them. This new iteration, though, doesn't worry. Not yet, anyway. He stays still and watches, even as the thing hisses at him, making off with the skeleton of the dwarf.
The dwarf was dead. Death was a natural part of life. Everything died eventually. Some things, it seemed, may have to die more than once. Regardless of that, Talon knew that the dwarf's remains were now a part of nature. He could feel the creatures living in the duff and detritus around them, could practically feel the cell division of fungi breaking down dead leaves and plant matter all around them. What, then, was the difference for the dwarf's body? Why treat it differently than a dead leaf?
He breaks his motionless state for only a second to wave at the thing as it leaves...trying to show he means it no harm...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
The creature studies Talon cautiously... blinks... holds still for a moment... breathing heavily... light reflecting in its creepy eyes...
After a few seconds, the creature moves again, pulling the skeleton fully out of the cairn, dragging it behind as it disappears into the shadows...
The night continues without further incident.
3rd Morning of Maithar
Bramblebottom Woods
Dawn
Warm sunlight peeks through the forest canopy. The sound of birdsong eases you back into consciousness. You open you eyes. All seems well.
It's a strange, but delightfully welcome feeling... You actually managed to slept entirely through the night without any disturbances. You may actually have your wits about you as you consider your next steps... either continuing onward toward the half-elven settlement, or venturing off randomly to search for this mysterious well. Either way, at least now, in this moment, you feel safe and well-rested.
Relief passes over each of you as you survey your surroundings.... but an inaudible record scratch disrupts your serenity as your eyes fall on the ransacked cluster of stones that was once a carefully constructed cairn...
And there... just as you left him, is Talon, crouched where he was, surveying the scene impassively, paying no mind to the obvious evidence that something must have happened last night.
DM - Classic Adventures Reborn
Rylan - L1 Human Paladin - Barty's "Princes of the Apocalypse"
Ashley stretches and lays there a bit on the bedroll thinking about the last few days. She can't help but smile, it's been crazy, but its been wonderful all at the same time. She has friends.. she's never had friends before. She recalls last night as she made the fire of her own volition, something she rarely did as it was so often extracted out of her, and it felt good. She wasn't judged, she wasn't even questioned by those around her and that made all the difference.
She sat up and was surprised by the fall of the cairn, looking over to Talon, she asks, "Anything happen last night? Everything alright? Are you good?" she doesn't look concerned, still smiling, just more curious than anything.
Dardek slept like a baby. He stretches and groans loudly before sitting up and looking around. “Good Morning friends! My best friends….my only friends. How was everyone’s night?”
Nib is the last to stir, giving a long stretch of his little body before he sits bolt upright. “Pancakes. I was dreaming of pancakes and syrup, and eating eggs for breakfast. Sally’s face smilin at me. Hah. Isn’t it strange, dreams? Like different lives, playing out in our mind overnight.” *big stretch*. Nib stands, gathering his things and looking to everyone with a smile. At last his eyes come around to the cairn that he took time to build. “Talon! What happened? What disturbed our burial place? Were you watching? How was the night?” Nib stands with hands on hips, a tiny little bit of frustration that somehow his work from yesterday was disturbed. He starts looking for the bones that were contained within.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Dardek looks at what Nibs is doing and gasps a bit "Do you think they came to life and are waiting to ambush us?" Dardek frantically begins looking high and low with his head on a swivel
Talon looks very nonchalant as everyone begins to wake up and stir, even as Ashley and Nib seem to have some concerns about the cairns being disturbed. Well, at least Nib. Maybe Ashley was just wanting to ask him how he was.
"It was a good night." Talon says, nodding to Ashley. "It was cool and the bugs weren't picking at me too bad. And I was alone most of the night. But, oh!"
As if Nib has jogged his memory.
"YesTalonwatched! Yes, there was this thing..." He uses hand gestures to describe how it looked, raising his hands up to his head like he's creating some dread creature. "It came out of the woods, hm, and then it got the bones!"
He points to the cairns.
"It was very ferocious! It got the bones, and then I waved at it! And then it was my friend, and it took the bones into the woods to uh...eat, I guess? Thatisagoodwaytoendthestoryofbonesyes? Nowtheynourishtheliving!"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
“It ate… the bones? What the heck was it? I’m surprised that it didn’t come back to eat you! What direction did it go? I think we need to stay as far away from it as we can. Didn’t you think to .. wake us up? Next time, if something is crawlin around, eating bones that we tried to bury - - wake us up!” Nib stands there looking at Talon and crosses his little arms, tilting his head. Under his breath he says to himself, “Pal sure would’ve…”.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Dardek looks at Nibs "You don't have to wake me if there's no danger....I uhhh wouldn't be much help probably all half asleep and errr stuff."
Ashley puts her hand on the kobold's shoulder. "Yes, it is a good way for bones to end, to nourish the living. But if something is ferocious... what if it had gone for one of us instead of the bones, what would you have done?"
Talon raises a finger and points in the direction the creature went.
"Tookbonesthatway." He says, nodding. Then his brow creases. "Wake you up? For whats purpose? Thing was here to eatbones hm? Gone for us? If it had gone for us Talons wakes us up. But its didn't cuz it eats bones, and left with bones, and didn't try to bother us."
Then he leans in close to Dardek and whispers...
Turn Summary
Stealth roll to whisper to Dardek = 20
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Nib looks at Dardek with a naughty look on his face, saying “What kind of … stuff? What kind of work are you doin over there at night in your bedroll, all alone?” Nib starts snickering to himself and walks a brief way in the direction Talon pointed, looking in vain for any sign of a creature. He comes back shrugging his shoulders and starts to gather things, making ready to go.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Dardek hears Nibs but is scared silly by Talon’s whisper that Dardek turns ghostly white. He opens his mouth to yelp but nothing comes out….he feels lightheaded and goes to sit down
Ashley frowns and looks from Talon to Dardek and back. She then heads over to Dardek and asks, "Are you alright? What did Talon say to you? Cause we need to get moving if we're going to find that well."