Turn 109 Morning comes
Jahl, Gareth, Wulfgar, and Barbaxle join the others at Wulfgars house, Arylin and Caohimin sleep
at the temple, but everyone gets a deep deep sleep.
As you sleep, you dream. This night is no exception. You fall asleep
pondering the footsteps and disturbed grave Jahl spoke of, and the
others went to investigate. In your dreams, Things are as always, you
live your life, you dream, you die. But this dream is different. A
beautiful elvin woman appears to you in your dream this night. She
speaks to you of wars, and evil magics. She talks of destiny, of Gods
and Goddesses. She tells you she is Quiom, Goddess of peace and harmony.
She warns you of a great evil walking the land, and evil that will
enslave all the races it does not destroy. An evil that has hidden the
Gods from the people, and made it impossible to visit their children
except in dreams. "Destiny calls you child" she says as she fades from
view. You spend the rest of your evening in a deep, restful dreamless
sleep. When you awaken, you feel refreshed, rested, and you remember
your dream.
Arilyn feels her body transition from the world of sleep to the world of
wakefulness. The image of Quiom so strong and alive...and her body
gently shivers in pleasure at the thought of her beauty and her charm.
Seeing a Goddess in her dream fills her with such warmth and love...a
feeling that she is protected and cared for. She tries to fall back to
sleep...to see her Goddess once again. "Quiom, I want to be your
follower...to serve you, forever."
Early in the morning, Vincas is awaken to a hand grasping his mouth. As
the bard's eyes open, he sees Keldar standing infront of him.
The gnome puts a finger to his mouth, symbolising that Vincas should be
quite. THe gnome then removes his hand from Vincas's mouth and whispers,
"Vincas....it's me Nick. Last I remember is the fight with goblins. Now
I'm awake, have a killer headache, I look down and near wet meself as I se
Keldar's body. Where's Keldar, Bock and Kailin? Reggie's asleep over
there, and a buncha strangers are here too. Are we prisoners?"
Reggie crawls from out under his blanket.
"After a night filled with zombies, murder, werid dreams .." He glances
over towards Keldar's greenish face.
"and beer. What we all need now is a good old fashion gnomic breakfast"
Vincas's jaw drops and he stammers to find some words 'Umm...uhhh, Nick
well, you see,,,,,ahhh dammit."
He sits up and rubs the sleep from his eyes. "I won't lie to you old friend.
You're under some kind of spell....you see, in a way you're possessing
Keldar's body. I can't believe this is happening again. Same thing happened
with Bock." he grumbles, rubbing his temples.
"I wish I knew more about what's going on, but things have been, well, lousy
since we fought the goblins." He nervously picks at a spot on his shirt and
says "It seems Keldar's body has become something of a beacon
for.....uh....for other people. Don't worry, you'll be back to yourself
soon."
The young bard sighs low and long, a look of anguish on his face. "It's good
to talk to you Nick."
Gareth sits deeply in contemplation as the party members at Wulfgar's home
arise. "Quiom has always been close to the faith of Pikahl, if somewhat
ironicly. Servants of Pikahl wage the righteous combat to preserve peace
and order, or harmony as she would phrase it. Her words are both grave and
encouraging; while the evil cloaking the gods must be potent indeed if they
cannot contact their mortal children, the fact that they can somewhat reach
through the barrier supports that the barrier is not completely effective..
and can be brought down. This also bodes well for the trancing effect of
the ceremony; I wonder where the source of the evil resides?" After
finishing the remainder of his breakfast, the paladin gathers his equipment
and mounts Emperor. "I agree with having those not watching research the
brothers' deaths, but cautiously and only superficially. I am off to pick
up supplies, then I will be at the gates to the temple of Callus, preparing
for and performing the ceremony; hopefully, it will complete itself at high
noon."
"I'm a little confused," Jahl begins, his brow furrowed. "I understand
that Wulfgar has not had contact with Callus recently, but nobody has had
contact with their God at all? I don't proclaim to be very religious. My
wanderings have lead me to implore help from Kannon many times in the past,
but I have never had a close enough relationship with him as others do with
their Gods. I am simple in that respect, and Kannon understands the life of
a wanderer. But if there is no contact at all, except through dreams, will
prayers be answered? How will we know if the ritual to destroy the book
will complete correctly if the Gods are unable to act. To bestow their
blessing?"
"Perhaps this is why all spells have not been working lately..."
Jahl crosses back to his pack and sits, pondering his thoughts.
Cole rises and agrees to the idea of breakfast but he
remains quiet about dreams and such he follows the others blindly
as usual and will be glad to exit this town.
"Gareth? Did you have a dream about Quiom too? This is very weird, it
must be important if she made all of us dream the same dream. This creature
that she spoke of must be found. We have found our destiny, after we get
done with all that we have to do in this town we must kill this beast and
make Meyr the place that it once was. Also, Gareth I would like to be with
you when you attempt to destroy the book." Barbaxle walks over to Reggie and
looks at what he is making. "Hmm...Looks pretty good there Reggie. I'm very
hungry and I think that we have a big day ahead of us. We all will need a
full belly to get us through the day."
"Yes to the dream and its importance - hope and understanding are more
valuable tools to a man than an army of warriors, and the gods know such.
You may certainly attend the ceremony, but for safety, do not interfere in
it, regardless of what occurs.
Reggie looks up from his cooking.
"I may just be paranoid, but would the process of destroying the book
involve magic?? It just with all the spells and weird stuff going on,
I have a VERY bad feeling in my stomach."
Kay crawls out from wherever she was sleeping, suits up, and finds the rest
of the guys in stately Wulfgar Manor. She sniffs the air and finds a seat,
"Breakfast sounds nice about now. ", she overhears Barbaxle mention Quiom,
"So we all had the same dream eh?"
When you glance at the gnome, you don't see a green face, but a confused
and pained one. Keldar looks over at you then speaks.
"Reggie.... good to see that you are OK. I know that this may make no
sense, but it's me Nick. For the rest of
you, my name is Nicholas Marshall. I appear to be somehow trapped inside
my friend Keldar's body. Vincas tells me that Bock was in here as well.
With your knowledge of magic, could you tell me what's going on?"
Nick then notices the women around. "Well hello ladies. A great pleasure
to make your aquaintances. I may be unsightly in this gnome's body, and assure you I
am a greater pleasure to look upon.... er.... once I get MY body back"
Kay quickly glances around the room to see who "Nick" is referring to, "Must
be pretty crowded there in Keldar's head with all of you fellows mucking
about. I'm curious who else is gonna pop up, but not that much.", The
warrior notices Gareth, Wulfgar, and Vincas head off to a super-secret
meeting outside, and out of curiosity, she gets up, "You'll have to excuse
me good Sir Marshall, I need to get a bit of fresh air, good luck with
finding your body!" and heads out the door.
A look of sadness crosses Nick/Keldar's face. "Yes this entire thing has
been quite unusual for me to deal with. Last I recall is fighting goblins
to save a Unicorn, then waking up in Keldar head. Perhaps those foul
beasts had unleashed some form of magic that scattered us away from
Durant."
"Reggie, what of Keldar, Bock and Kailin? I'd hate to think of that gnome
mucking about in my body. I'm sure that Bock and Kailin are most
uncomfortable having switched as well.... at least logic would say they
have switched, seeing KEldar and I did. And Reggie, what did that person
mean by `all those people in my head'?"
Jahl looks up towards Reggie. Pausing the packing of his things an odd
look crosses his face; part surprise, part distress.
"My. Forgive me. I was certainly wrong in thinking that things
couldn't get any stranger." Jahl lets out a long sigh and returns to his
belongings.
Vincas looks pained as the gnome makes his introduction. Then his eyes grow
wide and he jumps up and snaps his fingers.
"By all the Gods I've got it. Gareth, Wulfgar...may I have a word with you,
outside please. I think I may have an idea...."
Vincas will then pace anxiously by the door waiting for them to follow.
Nodding in mild curiousity, the knight picks up his remaining hotcake and
walks to the door to join Vincas.
Once outside Vincas gets an excited grin on his face. "I think I know
what's going on with Keldar. When it was said that this force is stopping
the gods from communicating with their followers I had an idea. It would
appear to me that the souls of the dead aren't able to reach their destiny
in the afterlife either, they're not making across the boundaries of this
world to be with their dieties. They seem to be stuck here...and Keldar acts
as a channeler for them somehow. He's Nick now, he was a friend of ours who
also passed on recently, the same time as Bock in fact. Remember at
Reynold's keep when he saw the body of the boy and he acted like a timid
child? I'll bet he was possessed by the boys trapped spirit. And the dead
body of Brother Randos also seems to indicate to me that his soul is not at
peace. What say you? Am I mad or am I on to something?"
The knight nods in agreement as Vincas' idea unfolds, but shakes his head at
the final question. "Nay... I have been turning the idea around within mine
head- my head and was wondering something similar. At first I thought it
was a spell backlash, but it lasted too long. Then I believed it had driven
the poor gnome insane, but he recovered lucidity. You have laid out nicely
the next conclusion, in light of the dream we shared. I expect the gnome
weakened himself in casting the spell, and the spirits have been able to
enter and speak. If not, and the spirits can possess at will or manifest and
attack physically, people are in great danger within these lands. After we
attempt to exorcise this tome, I suggest we have good Wulfgar here speak
with the departed Randos. Thoughts?"
Reggie mentinos breakfast, and everyone concurs. Looking through his belongings,
Reggie discovers with horror that he doesnt have enough food for himself, let
alone the rest. Quick discussion agrees that the tavern would be the best place
to go.
On discovery that the party doesn't have much food, and at the mention
of the tavern serving breakfast, Reggie explodes into action. His
bedroll is quickly packed, and the rest of his items are stuffed into
his backpack.
"Last one there pays for the pancakes"
"I didn't think that Reggie ever ran out of food." barbaxle half-heartedly jokes "This is something to
write down in your journals. I'm very hungry, I could use a good hearty
breakfast. We can discuss the dreams and what everyone is going to do today
at the tavern."
Wulfgar sits up looking the worse for wear "I think perhaps I should get
cleaned up but I also would love a good hearty meal!" He stands and
stretches, trying to rid himself of some stiffness. Walking quickly and
quietly outside he looks for somewhere to get cleaned up. A confused look
upon his face as he tries to sort out the events of the night in his mind.
Nick/Keldar looks at the others. "Yeah... food .... maybe there we can
fill me in on what's happening."
Turn 110