The Deserted Beach

[Jeikor]

Innil grins at Quelten as well although he is only going by body language to guess at what was said. Walking up to the group of boys he introduces himself again. "As I said earlier, I am Innil Siannodel the Archer. If everyone is agreeable I would be pleased to have Luth as my apprentice. And I would not take kindly to anyone mistreating my apprentice." Innil gives Reld a look as he says this.

[Rilbur]

Quelten turns and catches up with Elgas.  "No one else was supposed to hear that, demonspawn idiot," Quelten comments, annoyed.  "Rather defeats the purpose of a private conversation, you eavesdropping moron."

[Eghas]

Eghas throws his arm around Quelten as they walk.  "Let's have a chat shall we?"  He continues walking with Quelten by his side, till they are well away from everyone else

[Zergrinch]

"Fighter, cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard." Zemzelett says as he looks around the group approvingly.  "Not a bad composition at all.  I am sure that given time, your team's exploits will be sung by bards the world over."

 

"I am Zemzelett, the Acrobatic, as most of you already know.  I know I saw some of you during performances," he glances at Melirel to catch his eye - he did in fact notice the young rogue-in-training studying his acrobatic moves in one of the performances prior to Snowfest.  "While I wanted to be trained as a rogue, it was decided that I would be more useful as a bard."  His heart skips a beat - what would he give to have his father and mother in front of him this very minute?

 

"Unfortunately, my skills do not seem at all relevant for any of you.  I can skirmish some, but not very effectively.  I am a spellcaster, but my spells are woven together by words or music, which is very much unlike the internally-fueled force of a sorcerer or externally-fueled energies harnassed by a wizard using his spell-book.  I can and will, if you will have me, train you in speed and dexterity.  Oh, and I play a mean game of Dragon Chess too!"

 

"We are the Stink Brigade," Zemzelett says with a hint of a smile, as his eye flits towards the back of the departing Quelten.  "Well, that is before we all took long-awaited baths, so I don't know if that name is still valid.  What about you, what's the name of your Adventuring group?"

[A.B]

((OOC: I'll write some for everything that has been said in this thread to cover up for the time I was zzzzzzzz ))

 

 

Elan'fal goes hunting with Eghas and Innil and they bring back what they can find.

 

After they return he spends some hours reading on the spellbook.

 

Action: Read spellbook for 4 hrs.

 

They eat and rest.

 

Then as he is about to go have a one on one with Reld he sees Quelten doing that. He can't hear what they're saying from the distance but he can understand by their body language that it is something along the lines that he wanted to talk about with Reld so with a grin he goes over to the kids and then hears for one of them asking for his spellbook.

 

"Gothan is it? Here's your spellbook, sorry I took it I did not know it was yours, I thought it belonged to one of those we killed to get to you and your friends." He tells the younger boy and then turns to Talarc. "You are my apprentice." He announces to the boy. "Come with me lets see what you know." He tells the boy and they go off together to practice where their cantrips won't hurt anyone if they go bad.

[Jeikor]

Innil grins and shakes his head in disbelief. The two elves have claimed human apprentices before any of the others. He motions for Luth to follow him to a remote area to discuss training and to practice shooting.

[Kyle Aarons]

After seeing what the kids can do you sit for lunch.... the temp is now clsoe to 90 F or 32 C:

 

It takes a few hours to sort out the kids' skills. All five come from noble houses, but only Talarc and Gothan are considered royalty. Most of the time is spent finding out skills, training, how advanced each one is, and how much each can or cannot take care of themselves. You also find out some of what you already know: the spell book belonged to Gothan and the smoky quartz crystal to Talarc.

 

Ownership of the other three items is also exposed. The flail was/is Luth's primary weapon, the holy symbol of Zerris was/is Reinlor's, and the short sword was/is Melirel's. All five boys dearly want the items back but none of them even think of trying to demand them back.

 

However, what else they tell you is how they were all rushed to Keep Sokyeth in the noble section of Old Port once the attack was underway and the guards realized the city had been breached. The tell of how the guards tired desperately to hold the hordes of marauders back, but there was just too many. In the final few hours before the last of the city fell, the guard ranks broke and the remaining guards ran for their lives. Once Keep Sokyeth fell, when some creatures managed to get in somehow, all the nobles within were captured and the raiders tore down the flags and burned them. It then became a sport of the raiders to find and kill any guards who were hidden inside or outside the city. Guard families were taken as trophies by the strongest as well. Other city workers, even the lowest street sweepers were also targeted as war trophies for the weaker raiders. The Kids say they heard hundreds upon hundreds were taken up into the Knight Guard Mountains as slaves and trophies.  

 

During the first week after the keep fell, the children of the nobles were separated. The Bugbear showed up a few days later and sorted out the youngest child of each noble house and tossed the others out to the courtyard where all the others were being kept in the cold with little food and constant torment of those who took the keep. The youngest, and all five of the boys you have are the youngest in their respective houses, were cared for much better and kept inside where it was much warmer. They were forced to bathe and where given semi-regular meals. Punishments were harsh, but nothing compared to what they witnessed and heard out the windows looking down on the courtyard.

 

The kids also talk of their training and how they really wanted to be real adventurers since none of them were in line for much more than a stipends from their respective houses because they were all the youngest. The all figured they could make a name of themselves and earn a real fortune of their own.

 

One thing that does start to stand out, as this is talked about, is the fact Count Sokyeth was actually bankrolling the entire group and even paid a considerable amount of extra money to the temple of Zerris to get Reinlor into priest training since none of the kids were deemed as good candidates for priesthood and the group, in particular, Reinlor, wanted a cleric in the group.

 

This was all done on the condition that the boys, when they become fully trained, stay in Old Port and investigate the labyrinth under Old Port for at least two years or until they found something. None of them were ever told what this something was, however. One other side note that Talarc lets slide is the fact there is an entrance under Keep Sokyeth which happened to be the primary target of those who took the keep and the five boys. Once Talarc says this, the five boys all tell you twelve creatures, like the ones you killed, came in and started torturing people until the count's scribe finally told them where the entrance was after they threatened him with biting off the man's fingers one at a time and did so to one of the servant girls just to prove they would do it. The following day the bugbear, two huge monster looking things, along with some Orcs and Gnolls came back in and took over the palace while the twelve creatures went into the hidden entrance.

 

A couple of days later a young man came in, dressed as a military commander, as a matter of fact the man had taken the Captain of the Guard's uniform and was wearing it as he came and went from the keep. All the others deferred to him and he spent a great deal of time in the keep's study looking though books and even had a force storm the guild area and take all the documents they could find and bring them back to him. As the days went by, several other noble kids were pointed to and they were taken by some of the raiders who had earned some kind of fame. The twins of Baron Mosarn were given to the one who showed this man the most guard rank insignias and the man awarded other females or children from the keep to those who came into the keep and had at least five guard insignias. It didn't take long for the courtyard to empty after this started.

 

The man left after a couple of weeks saying he needed "it" to piece together the rest, but seven other noble children from the area the youngest nobles of each hose where being held were taken way in chains with the man. The man made it clear they were important and assigned a contingent of Hobgoblins to escort him and the seven to "the temple" and to let no lasting harm come to any of them even if it meant the Hobgoblins dying to protect the noble kids.

 

A few weeks after the man left with the other noble children, three of the creatures returned from the labyrinth entrance with a long metal box with ruins all over it and told the Bugbear they had to get it out of the city and would send message back when they knew what final keys were needed. None of the five boys saw any kind of lock on the long metal box, though.

The weird thing is, during all this time several of the servants were raped, some killed and many both. Some of the adult nobles were killed in totally unfair fights with things like Troglodytes and Grimlocks, with bets were placed on how long the nobles would last or how many blows it would take to drop them and even if they would cry before dying. The keep guards were forced to fight each other or watch as their families were brutally tortured, and other nobles and their kids were taken away by some of the raiders. But the five of them, the kids you have with you, were not harmed other than punishments for not doing what they were told or when they tried to escape. The most common form was foot whippings since it tended to prevent mobility along with future escape attempts and was excruciatingly painful.

 

Merirel and Gothen, both of which learned the Goblin tongue, recount most of this since much of the conversations was in the native tongue of the Bugbear, which is Goblin. They both tell of hearing the Bugbear ordering  other others to back off on punishments beyond pain, saying the five of them could not be badly harmed because one or more may hold one of the missing keys.

It is after hearing all this that the real bombshell drops.

 

Merirel takes a deep breath, "The guy with who was in charge and took the Captian of the Guard of Old Port's uniform was a noble, at least he said he was a noble... and sure knew how to act like one... He was a Human, could fight and could cast spells and there was no doubt he was in charge of the whole thing, the takeover of the city, the leading of the Gnolls and Orcs and even the other monsters, the capture of the keep after all the nobles fled there... He even bragged about setting it up so all the nobles would run to the keep so he could get them all in one neat bundle.. The creatures all called him Commander and the Bugbear and the two huge monsters with him referred to him as Master..." At this point he gets a nudge from Luth and you see a couple of the others shake their heads.

 

As the boy's voice trails off, and before any of the rest of you can say much of anything other than "What" and "Tell us", Reld slides on a spiked gauntlet and stares at the kid, getting beads of sweat to pop up on the boy's forehead. Reld makes a growling sound and deliberately clenches his hand into a fist while making one of the spikes "ring" by tapping it with a dagger. He then speaks with a menacing voice, "Spit it out!"

 

Merirel gulps and glances over at Quelten, swallows hard and his voice starts to quiver, "The Commander guy, the one the Bugbear called Master... he said in Goblin more than once while he was staying in Keep Sokyeth... Um... He said he was from house... Beurden."

[Zergrinch]

During the conversation, the half-elf notices Melirel's discomfiture at not having a weapon.  Patting him in the back, he drops both his shortswords in the boy's hands.  With his newly-acquired rapier, he doesn't need them anymore (and besides they were weighing him down).

 

Inventory: Give 2x Shortswords to Melirel.

 

Zemzelett continues to listen to the story, enthralled at how the other side viewed it.  The nobles apparently fared far worse than he did, all things considered - he grew used to the sewer's stink after a matter of days, and although he was always cold and hungry, he was not a captive.  He was aghast to learn that the entire attack was masterminded by a human traitor.  

 

Upon the revelation of the commander's name, the half-elf is unable to process the information at once.  Instead, he stares blankly at the new cleric of Mithras, with his jaws and eyes wide open.

 

A dozen stray thoughts poured into his mind.  If his family is behind this travesty... this... massacre, can Quelten truly be trusted?  Is he but a spy, leading them like lambs to the slaughter?  And yet, and yet he charged at the strange creatures who worked for House Beurden.  He has shown nothing but honor and courage, and perhaps tinged with a hint of young arrogance.  He was even grievously wounded by one of the Orcs.  Or was that for show, with the orc deliberately staying its hand?  If that was for show, then is Quelten's faith for real or just put on for show?  Apparently his alignment to Pelgrin was simply ripped out and replaced with the teachings of Mithras.  Is his mind and faith truly so weak, or has he been fooling them all this time?  

 

So many questions, but Zemzelett dismisses them from his mind.  Zem's hands tighten around his rapier, ready to lunge at the young cleric should he make any false moves.

 

Ready Action: If Quelten reveals himself to be evil, stab him.

[ken barber]

Barrett just stares at the Merirel and Does not want to make eye contact with Queltin

[Eghas]

Eghas doesn't look to Quelten right away.  he looks at the kids for a few moments, then nods to himself.  "I think we all need some time to let this soak in.  This has been a long day, and it is not over.  I am sure, after telling your tales, that you are all hungry.  who would like to help me cook us up some dinner.  I also think it would be good for everyone to bathe again, especially you young ones, as you have not yet."  He looks to Reld.  "Would you please take them, and keep watch while they bathe?"

 

he looks at Vorador, and speaks again.  "Would you please join me while we prepare an evening meal?"

[ken barber]

Barrett rises "I need to pray,please excuse me for a bit" he heads off away from the group to pray and meditate

[Quelten]

Quelten grinds out a single, enraged question, "Beurden?"

 

A single deep breath later, he manages a further question.  "Describe him to me.  Every.  Last.  Detail."

[Kyle Aarons]

Seeing the others looking at Quelten with shocked looks and anger, Gothan speaks up, Height: 6' 4"   Weight: 220 lb   Skin: Pale   Eyes: Blue   Hair: Blond Straight hair; Beardless, wears the same signate ring on your right hand
 

[Zergrinch]

His voice dripping with scorn, Zemzelett glares at the tall, wiry, pale, blond-hair blue-eyed beardless Quelten.  "Tall.  Pale.  Blond hair.  Blue eyes.  No facial hair.  'Cleric' of Pelgrin.  Ring any bells?"

[Eghas]

"Well we know that it is not Quelton.  and frankly, we all know that the sins of one family member does NOT translate to other family members.  it would NOT be proper for ANY of us to hold Quelten responsible for something that is NOT His doing.  I would be VERY unhappy to see any one treating him differently because of this.  Remember, all of you, my ancestors traded with demons to gain power.  I would be most unpleased to have any of you treat me poorly due to that.  and i would be just as displeased if any of you treat Quelten differently."

 

He then turns to Quelten.  "This is a bad shock i am sure, and i know your anger is about to control you, but you MUST not let that happen.  If you give into the rage, you will lose everything that makes you, you.  do NOT allow that to happen."

[Zergrinch]

Confirmation at last that it was no disguise - he actually was a walking, talking demon.  An awfully soft-spoken, walking talking demon, but a walking, talking demon nonetheless!  

 

His fear temporarily subdued by a hot flash of anger that surprised the half-elf himself, Zemzelett replies venomously, "Oh really.  The sins of kin do not taint you?  What about Reld?  What about all the children sold off as slaves because of their parents?!"

[Jeikor]

Innil looks at Quelten with no emotion showing and gives a short nod them looks at Zemzelett and shakes his head. Innil goes to the piles of gear finds Luth's flail and brings it to him then follows the boys and Reld to the water.

[Eghas]

Looks at Zemzelett and shakes his head.  "So, the children are responsible for their parents actions?  That does not make any sense.  i mean really is Reld a bad person because his parents sold him as a slave?"

[Zergrinch]

"No, of course not!  But he IS paying the price for his parents' mistakes!  Like it or not, that's the way it works!"

 

"The way it works."  Zemzelett's voice softens to a whisper as he successfully suppressed an involuntary sob.

[Eghas]

True, but that does not mean that he is bad, just like i am not evil because of what my ancestors did, and does NOT mean that Quelten is bad because of what his relative did."

[Quelten]

Quelten raises his hand to look at the signet ring on it.  "Jeraul..." he whispers.  "It's Jeraul!"

 

"Jeraul, you orc-loving bastard!" he says more loudly, raising to his feet.

 

"Mithras!" Quelten bellows to the sky, throwing both hands open.  "Your new priest calls upon you!"

 

Quelten snatches a dagger off his belt and slices open his palm, letting the wound bleed freely onto the ground before him.  "By my blood I swear justice!  I will hunt this bastard down!  I will bring him to bay!  I will see his works undone, his power broken, his life ended!  I swear this by Mithras, who is my god, and Pelgrin who was my god, and by my family!"

 

Quelten lowers his gaze to the children, and steps in front of them.  He carefully lays his sword and hammer before him, and kneels down, sliced palm held up towards them.  "A member of my family has wronged you.  I swear by the honor of my family there will be justice.  We will track him down and bring him to justice, and if ever you or your families have need we will answer.  This blot on our honor can only be expunged with blood, and we will be expunge it."

[Zergrinch]

Quelten's display quiets Zemzelett's argument with Eghas.  The cleric swore a blood oath of vengeance, perhaps against a brother of some kind.  Was he convinced?  Maybe, but he is still too angry to care.  Feeling emotionally drained, he leaves the group without excusing himself and heads off to the waters.  Maybe a good swim will serve to cool his head.  For the moment, he doesn't trust himself enough to speak.

[D'Narenth]

D'Narenth, sitting behind a large rocky outcropping at the top of the hill, stares down at the group of beings. A group that shouldn't be here. A group that appeared to be mostly human and elf. Part of the group was in the small stream and appeared to be bathing. A slightly smaller group were sitting a small distance away and appeared to be in some type of conference.

He wonders where they have come from, as he hasn't heard of these races being anywhere near here for the last few hundred years. Not far from where the smaller group was sitting, were the remains of other monsters.

 

There seemed to be enough cover to get close enough to hear what they were saying. So he began moving towards them.

[D'Narenth]

As D'Narenth creeps closer, he notices a lone being off by themselves.

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett continues to swim, completely unaware of his surroundings.  Why, if a strange being were to ambush him now, he would be well and truly screwed.