Adventure 2, Chapter 2b: Among the Harpies

[PyroArrow]

Tonkioso 'Gizzy' Gizmoebius [Male Clockwork Child Warrior AC 12 : HP 2/ 5]:


Says,

" Hmmm, it appears that our burying of the fellow in the ice, has these harpies believing we are associated with him & his kind?! "

[KingOfCowards]

Simon will bandage up any of his companions that is hurt. He then devotes his time to praying.

[DavetheLost]

"Well, at least they aren't going to kill us right away. But I don't see how I can defend myself against necromancy I didn't do and know nothing about. Begging pardon, but I didn't even know you lot before we started clearing the Pass. Not that I will propably get anywhere with her Birdship for that."

Des will sample the gruel and then walk over to the bars to see if he can get a better look at the pile of rags and any occupant in the next cell.

[Pulpatoon]

The gruel is unpleasant, but filling, and there is enough to feed everyone in the cell.

The bundle of rags is unresponsive, although there is definite movement, and a sound like stretching leather.

The three guards, who introduce themselves (having never bothered to on the Pass) as Redmere, Jack, and Jeb, help Simon administer healing to the party. They don't have any training in healing, but they are very good at following orders.

Silde eventually gathers her wits enough to eat some gruel, although she remains withdrawn and visibly upset.

Maximer is the last to recover, not regaining consciousness until the following morning. He groans and mops his brow, and complains loudly as soon as he has enough breath to do so.

Between a night's rest and Simon's ministration, everyone is back at full HP.

Middleday, Springmonth 15

In the light of morning, you catch your first glimpse of your neighbors. Two thin, unhealthy-looking humans, dressed in rags. One is a middle-aged male, the other a young woman. They are covered in crude scars following the patterns of parallel lines and concentric circles of the cultists. The arm of one and leg of another show fresh cuts—apparently their patterns are still a work-in-progress.

The cultists stare from the far side of the cell at you, their eyes wide and glassy. Their mouths are drawn in tight, hard lines, and their muscles are tensed as though they were about to spring, even though they are a good twenty feet away and separated from you by iron bars. They maintain this rigid attitude for hours, without moving. Their pot of gruel goes untouched.

You have all your equipment and weapons with you. If there is anything you want to have done with them during the night or this morning, go ahead.

[KingOfCowards]

Simon will attempt to detect magic on the scarred prisoners, to get an idea of how far gone these two are. We've really never gotten a chance to study one of the inflicted without being attacked.

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus takes a more feral approach to the two, grabbing his spear in hand and giving him a menacing look.

[Pulpatoon]

Simon:

Opening your inner eyes to the magical environment, you see faint globules of pale light floating towards the cultists, like motes in a sunbeam. There is some small magic in these two. The patterns on their skin draw in and trap some manner of spiritual energy, but their designs are crude and incomplete, so they are retaining very little of the energy.

Incidentally, you also notice some tell tales signs of magic about Maximer's person. He has a magic ring and is wearing something magical around his neck.

Marcus: The older man continues his tensed stare, unaffected by your bellicose posture. The woman, however, snaps her teeth, as if to bite your throat out.

[KingOfCowards]

Simon stares off as if in a trances as he concentrates on his surroundings and the two cultists. When his attention returns, he whispers to Marcus and Gizzy, who have seen this sort of thing before. "They are relatively weak as far as cultists go. I cannot say whether or not they would rise from the dead, like we've seen from some of the others. But their crude markings aren't holding much energy."

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus listens to Simons words, looking back to the cultists. He walks towards the cage door, giving the two a cocky grin. Speaking just loud enough for them to hear, "You're weak."

[Pulpatoon]

The man remains fixed in rapt attitude. The woman gnashes her teeth at Marcus' taunt. A quiet, crackling voice emerges from somewhere deep in her throat. "We are all weak. Weak flesh, weak spirit, chattle spittle huddle scraps before the wind and river and fire and... We wax unto the world, eat the divine victuals of flesh and smoke and silver slippery eel-skin spirits. It enters us, grows in us, feeds on us and hates us and holds us and breaks us with its teeth and its roots and its... You are weak, and will wane weaker still, water bones and water blood and wafts of stink scattered scampered scrounged and lost. Weak awake and wept and wailed."

[Pulpatoon]

Now that Marcus has woken the woman's tongue, it refuses to rest, she continues to mutter nonsense under her breath with barely a pause for breath.

Moments later, with a groan and creak, doors open at one end of a cell. The opening is still barred with iron. Standing in a corridor on the other side of the bars is a harpy dressed similarly to Stormqueen Aelsede, although she is older and thinner. At her side are two harpy guards bearing spears and chestplates. Behind her is a much smaller harpy male, holding a stylus and wooden tablet.

"I am Advocate, Lawgiver, and Stormqueen Lilquathe. You are to be tried, and soon. Perhaps this afternoon. I understand that you wish to dispute your charges?"

[KingOfCowards]

Simon is squeamishly watching the zealot ramble on when the harpies enter.

"I am Advocate, Lawgiver, and Stormqueen Lilquathe. You are to be tried, and soon. Perhaps this afternoon. I understand that you wish to dispute your charges?"

""We do, Stormqueen. If you are an advocate, are you speaking on our behalf for our trial?", he questions the regal looking harpy.

[Pulpatoon]

Stormqueen Lilquathe: "My only commitment is to hear you words, to note them, and see that they are entered into the record. You should be prepared to speak on your own behalf."

In the next cell over, the cultist continues hissing her diatribe. Lilquathe grows annoyed by it. She says to Simon, "Recommend your compatriot to silence."

[KingOfCowards]

Simon sighs at the harpy's words, hoping they would have some help in what is sure to be a confusing court system. He notes her last comment with a smirk, "Begging your pardon. She's no compatriot of ours. Be sure to make note of that. It is her kind that we were meaning to stop. We may both look similar to you, but have a closer examination at the evil marks their kind makes in their skin. If the harpy peoples have problems with necromancy, we are your allies and not your enemy. Our small group had stopped a similar outbreak in our hometown and followed their evil trail northward in hopes of putting an end to it."

[MonkeyWrench]

Marcus does not answer the harpy, letting Simon do the talking. Content to stare at the cultist woman.

It seems that at a second glance he has entered some kind of state of mind, his gaze always on the muttering woman cultist, his lips parted to show his teeth, and if physically getting close to him a growling sound can come from him. His grip on his spear tightens as he continues to watch the woman, separated as they are in different cages.

[Pulpatoon]

The diminutive male harpy begins scratching at his tablet when Simon begins speaking.

Stormqueen Lilquathe: "Your manner and aspect is different than the others, I'll warrant that. Your claim is that they plague their own kind among the groundlings, as well as the skyborn peoples? Can you present evidence of this?"

Nodding towards Marcus, she says to Simon, "That boy seems quite taken with the prisoner. Separated lovers, perhaps?"

[PyroArrow]

Tonkioso 'Gizzy' Gizmoebius [Male Clockwork Child Warrior AC 12 : HP 2/ 5]:

Says to Stormqueen Lilquathe,

" Madame, as Simon has said, plus we volunteered to clear & open the path so that merchant trade can commence for the season & in so doing we came upon the priestly corpse, whom we decided to give a proper burial in spite of the painted markings which were similar to the carved markings we found on other tainted bodies. "

[Pulpatoon]

Stormqueen Lilquathe: "Priestly? The marked groundlings figure in your religion? These are your holy ones?"

[PyroArrow]

Tonkioso 'Gizzy' Gizmoebius [Male Clockwork Child Warrior AC 12 : HP 2/ 5]:

Says to Stormqueen Lilquathe,

" The Marked groundlings are not of any religion my friends & I, know of or are familiar with, they are a mystery to us & a cause of trouble for the town from which we came, of where a river was turned to blood by the body of a kindly priest & a sacred tree grove poisoned by a foul black ooze. "

" It appears that those with the markings drive others to eat flesh, once bitten or wounded & thus start to become one like them. "

" Thus we were on the path, clearing it for the merchants, while also continuing our journey to look for a source to the madness, in order to stop it. "

[KingOfCowards]

The diminutive male harpy begins scratching at his tablet when Simon begins speaking.

Stormqueen Lilquathe: "Your manner and aspect is different than the others, I'll warrant that. Your claim is that they plague their own kind among the groundlings, as well as the skyborn peoples? Can you present evidence of this?"

Nodding towards Marcus, she says to Simon, "That boy seems quite taken with the prisoner. Separated lovers, perhaps?"

To their last question, Simon stares at Marcus with a questioning look, "I don't...think so. But yes, they plagued our village as well until we fought them off." Frustrated, he wracks his brain for some sort of proof, but shakes his head. "Wherever we found them, we burned them. There is little left in physical evidence to show you as proof. Most recently there is a burned down farmhouse, miles and miles away where we did battle with them. Is there a practitioner of magic amongst you, they could spot the difference. The proof lies in the markings on their bodies."