Snake people, why did it have to be snake people?
General Summary
“Cap,” I cried, “Glad to have you back! Now we need to go clean up our mess.”
We hurried back down to the basements and there was an odd inscription on it. Lili studied it for a bit and started reading slowly aloud.
The in dark and peaceful slumber, safely rests, our Dark Lord,
Here to rest until the siren call, reawakens in glory the Final Lord,
Gather together then you faithful, for we still rest under his watchful gaze,
Search forth through secret things, through the dark and quiet places,
Bring forth his blade and with it in hand he will burst forth in a shower,
To reward the faithful, to drive away those feckless powers, that would seek our slavish servitude
“What does that mean?” Lili asked looking back at us.
“Don’t care,” Cap growled pulling out his hammer, “But I’m going to destroy this monstrosity.” His hammer descended on the altar and rebounded right before it hit bounding back and knocking Cap over.
“I’ll wash away that circle,” I said and pulled a tidal wave out, but it very carefully flowed around the markings. Lili disappeared and came back with a mop and mopped up the markings as best she could.
“If I can’t destroy it that way, I’ll get it this way,” and Cap shouldered his shield and stepped forward into the circle, and I know there was nothing there, but it was just like he was pushing into the biggest storm ever as he strove to push his way into the circle. Lili stepped up with her staff and slowly pushed her way in. As she walked in, I could see a few of her hairs turning gray under the strain. Then suddenly they both relaxed and the altar crumbled into dust.
It felt like a weight was gone from our shoulders, and I suddenly realized those barrels were full of tainted grain they’d been preparing to send out. I gathered the grain into piles and slowly set about purifying the grain.
“We need to tell the Centurion just in case they got some of this tainted grain,” Lili said once I was done.
I groaned thinking of the stairs we were about to climb. We showed our papers and started the climb. Lili grabbed Cap and started floating up the mountain. I grumbled and waited for her to come back down. She came back and floated up with me. We landed on the walls and the soldiers there aimed their bows at us and demanded we go with them to their Centurion.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” Lili said soothingly. “Here’s our papers. Don’t worry, we just didn’t want to climb the stairs. I’m just going to go back down and get my friend -” they pulled the arrows a little further back, “Or, I’ll come with you right now.”
The Centurion did not look happy to see us. “Why have I been woken up?” he demanded.
“Sir, they came over the wall,” the soldier answered. Centurion Arlos switched his glare to us.
“I see,” his eyes flicked over our now blood-stained clothes, “I trust you have a good reason for waking me and alarming my guards.”
“We do sir,” Lili answered. “There was a group in the cathedral corrupting the grain supply, and as soon as we dealt with them, we came up here to make sure you hadn’t been given any of the tainted grain.”
“I see,” he said again. “We last bought grain two months ago, so our grain is not tainted. This whole mess hadn’t started then. I believe you said you were going to deal with the mess down in town, right? I suggest you get back to that and not wake me up again tonight.”
“We’ll do that,” Cap said. “Can we spend the night in your chapel?”
“The Duke’s letter says you have the right. I believe that is all?”
“I need to go back down to get our last companion,” Lili said. “Can you warn your soldiers not to shoot me?”
“I will not tell my soldiers to stand down from something they should be watching for and prepared to stop someone. It’s your own risk.” Centurion Arlos said as he turned away and started walking back to his room.
Lili managed to get Milli without anyone getting hurt and as we walked up to the chapel we passed a library with some great chairs and a fireplace. “I’ll just stay here for the night,” Lili said looking over the books. Milli wandered in with her and curled up in a chair and promptly fell asleep.
Cap and I headed up to the chapel and spent the night there. I’ve certainly slept in worse places, at least here it wasn’t raining.
The next morning Lili retold a vision she had. She stood in a black rock-strewn field with a dark cave to the side and heard a voice sounding like metal grating on metal, “You spurn me and move away. You would leave me for those who forgot you when your family was destroyed and you were lost and alone.”
“I won’t hurt innocents,” Lili answered.
“Very well,” and Lili felt herself hurled back and she looked up, and in the shadows of the library she heard Sarthus’ voice, “And now the hunt begins, but first the Cap’n.”
Lili clutched the staff tighter and said, “You can try.”
She also said she found a book talking about the founding of the keep. It was built on the foundations of an older building, and the priests were not able to consecrate the ground here, so they built the cathedral down in trade town. They found the same symbol here as we found on the evil altar.
A QUICK CHECK FOR GRAIN BEFORE OUR NEXT TRIP
Cap and I spent the morning searching through the market for any signs of the tainted grain. I’d suggested going to the Council of Merchants, but Cap thought it was best to make sure the grain being sold was fine, but we found not a sign of it. We check back in with Centurion Arlos and tell him we will head up to find his missing tribune and legion. He sends us off with messages and a fair amount of supplies.YOU WAKE PEOPLE UP FOR ATTACKS NOT BECAUSE YOU HEAR DIRE WOLVES
On the first day nothing happened. The second however Milli woke me up halfway through her watch because she heard a lot of dire wolves in the distance. “Are they about to attack us?” I asked sleepily. “Well no,” she answered, “But there’s a lot of them out there.” “Wake me up again when they’re about to attack,” and I rolled back over and went back to sleep. All too soon Milli woke me up again for my watch. I glanced up and Lili was watching from up a tree. Must be nice to not need to sleep. Milli lay back down, but she kept her finger on her crossbow, and I don’t think she actually slept again. After a bit, I heard the howling too, but it was still fairly far off. Then I heard the sounds of fighting, swords clashing, and more howling. “Hey Lili, can you hear that?” “I do,” I looked up, but she was not looking the same direction I was. That was when the whole field lit up with a green glow and I could barely make out a large crowd approaching. “Milli,” I shouted, “Now would be the time to actually wake up. Cap! Get up!” I looked around and a crowd shambled towards us, and in the front was a rather odd gent. I threw fire at him and he didn’t react, just burned. Any normal person would have screamed. Actually, he would have first talked to us. That is when the snake people attacked. Lili screamed as they attacked her. “Tiger ally,” Milli shouted and a giant tiger appeared and bit the zombie creature attacking us. I gestured and the plants attacked the horde of zombies coming towards us. Most of them hit the plants and slowed down, but the one in the very back saw the plants and carefully skirted around them, we’ll call him Bob. I saw Lili fall down and the green haze disappeared. “Run, we have no fight with you,” a sibilant voice hissed at us. “That’s not going to happen,” I said and grabbed Lili throwing a heal on her. “Dispell evil,” Cap’s voice boomed. Lili woke up and teleported away. The snake guys followed her and again took her down. Milli shot the snake guys several times, and then Bob hit Milli’s tiger and it shuddered and turned black. I don’t think that’s a good sign. “This isn’t going well,” I muttered. “Flame on!” my body shimmered with heat as flame covered my whole body. “I was going to just be nice and kill you,” Cap chastised, “But you need to send a message to your boss. Lili is my friend and you go through me to get to her.” then he reached out and touched the snake guy and it just disappeared. Then Bob snuck up and hit me and the black lines start to appear on me, I can feel my body starting to change. “Oh no you don’t,” Milli said, “Come back here,” and I can feel the blackness go away. “Begone foul creature,” Cap cried, but this time the last snake guy resisted. Lili threw a shot of fire at him, and the snake guy fell. That left us with Bob and the now black tiger. I hit Bob with my flame, and he steps away from me and hits Milli. I see the blackness course over her body. Cap ran over and hit her as he passed saying, “Be cleansed,” but the black lines are still there. Lili throws a final flame over at Bob and he falls. Milli shoots Cap and I and starts running. I drop investiture of flame and try to hold Milli there, but she squirms out of my spell and continues running. “Blast!” I yell. “Hold!” Cap yells, but Milli keeps running. Lili throws a flame at Milli and Milli shoots back at Lili. “That does it,” I grumble. “Erupting earth!” and the ground under Milli shoots up and back down and she falls to the ground. I run over and start tying her up. Cap runs up behind me and stabilizes her, and Lili finally gets the black tiger down. I rummage around in our pack and pull out the lesser restoration potion and pour it down Milli’s throat. She wakes up and looks at us, “Why am I tied up? Did you get possessed?” I pull her bolt out of my shoulder and a second one out of my arm, “This and this are why you’re tied up.” “I’ve got a few more to contribute,” Lili said dropping more bolts on the ground. “So you guys went bad and I shot you?” Milli asked hopefully. “Try again,” I answered dropping down to start wrapping bandages around my arm and shoulder. This was not a restful night.
Report Date
21 Dec 2021
