Gala and a few of the others made their way to the gardens in front of the temple a few minutes before sunrise. The day promised to be hot, and a few thin clouds in the west offered the suggestion of yet more thunderstorms late in the day. Gala began her much simpler ceremony as the sun broke the eastern horizon over the distant hills. A few farmers, early risers by nature, made their way over to the gardens to mutter a prayer or two to the god of new beginnings as they prepared to spend their day in the simple worship of Chauntea, tilling the fields. Semheis came to the steps of the temple and stood watching. He made no move to participate as he frowned over the activity in front of Torm's temple. As soon as the ceremony ended, he turned back into the temple.
Azrun watched the ceremony with a little interest. When Semheis poked his head out, he showed a little more interest. As the preist went back inside, Azrun shook his head and went back to the inn.
Aloysius didn't really participate in the ceremony, but followed Gala's actions with keen interest. He watched as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. "A new beginning," he muttered. "Aye, e'en for the likes of Stargazer, such a thing be done."
The magic-user had made a startling transformation seemingly overnight. He had clearly washed about a month's worth of grime from his body as well as his clothes. His hair was once again tied back in a neat pony-tail that emerged from the back of his hat. Even the razor stubble that seemed to have clung to his face forever was gone (although he did have a couple of noticeable nicks from shaving).
As those who had participated in the ceremony made their way back to the inn and got seated for breakfast, the remaining members of the group save Torro straggled in. A very young serving girl brought them drinks and a note, "The red-headed man that was with ya left last night after you went to bed. He left this letter for ya."
The note was cryptic:
"Got word that I'm needed back in Scornubel. Will join you later if
I can return. Torro"
"DAMN!" exclaimed Aloysius. "Intelligence and good intentions only go so far! Raw might we had little of, and e'en less now. Perhaps there are others about who would join our cause?"
Gala mumured. "Another one gone. I wonder who will be next. I feel as if we are being whittled down." She then caught herself and tried a cheery smile. It did not seem to set as well this morning.
Although still fuming at the revelation that Torro had left, Aloysius caught Gala's forced smile. "Whittled down we be indeed. Stargazer be here for the duration Galaret, thanks to thee." The magic-user's eyes cast a stern look of determination, which slowly softened as he looked about at Gala and his other comrades.
"I'd be happier if I knew how he got this word and how confident he was that the word truly came from Scornubel," Arachne said. "Still, he was allowed to leave us a message. That's different from the other disappearances..." She fell into another silent contemplation.
The girl quickly brought their food. There was no sign of either twin or Dirkaster this morning; a portly man with a cheerful smile was tending to customers at this early hour.
Azrun said little as he ate his breakfast. When he was finished, he looked over at Gala, "You may try to find another place for your morning ceremonies, dear. I don't think that priest of Torm, cares for you too much. He probably feels you're trying to root in on his business here."
Gala smiled at Azrun, "I'm not sure what's up with him, Azrun, but you might try talking to him, like I did, before making that judgement. Torm and Lathander are allies longstanding. And worship is not business; it's a devotion." Gala was annoyed, though she tried, unsuccessfully to hide it. Standing up abruptly she bowed courteously to Azrun and the others, "I will be outside. I'll be happy to leave when you are ready." She then picked up her meagre belongings and walked outside the inn.
After a quick breakfast, the group gathered their belongings and went to claim Puddlejumper from Nafton's stables. Nafton was in the stables looking over a litter of puppies that had been born during the night. He seemed very pleased with the new mastiffs as he tipped his hat and smiled at everyone. When he heard they were going in the direction of the New Mire, he told them, "The Cutter Brook's the one you'll want to follow then. Runs right past Denfast's farm. Ain't you the ones that attacked his farmhands on the road 'bout few days back?" He chuckled slightly and shook his head, making an annoying clicking sound with his tongue, "Such things that happen."
"We'll have to be sure to apologize to them and him if we see them," Arachne said absently, while securing her pack on Puddlejumper.
Aloysius grinned as the puppies clung to their mother. "Sir," he began, addressing Nafton, "out of curiosity, how much does it cost for a trained mastiff?"
Nafton smiled at the mage's interest, "Twenty gold lions for the best guard dog you could ever hope for." He patted the new mother after he finished examining her pups before leaving the stables.
"Silly human," Kaileer mutters, "if we have lion, we not need dog..."
The party got on the road soon after, headed back down the road they had first followed into Haranshire.
After the party got outside of Milborn, and had recrossed the river, Aloysius spoke up. "Now that we are away from that infernal place, methinks it would be wise to reach a concensus on our course of action." The magic-user leaned against a tree. "Methinks it would be wise to return to the place where the bandits did accost us afore. The bandits we captured, that disappeared with Zond, were likely rescued by their cohorts. 'Twould seem likely that these same brigands may have something to do with Jelleneth's disappearance." He looked about at the recently depleted party. "With Torro gone, we may be sorely tested if forced to fight. Mayhap it best for us to be hunter rather than hunted. We could use clever Kaileer and perhaps stealthy Pug as scouts so as to not be ensnared by some bandit trickery. The Lyrchwood would seem a more likely place for bandits to abound than the Mire."
Kaileer kept his eyes and ears open, if only for the practice. "Why we go this way?" he asked suddenly.
It's always a bad idea to ask an open-ended question in the presence of an academic gnome. (Nearly as risky as putting a thaumaturgically theoretical question to Aloysius.) "We go this way," Arachne declared, "because we're reasonably certain that Zond departed Milborne by way of the river and that Jelenneth was enticed away from her safe, dry room in the middle of a dark and stormy night by something she saw down by the river or the boathouse on the river. We've poked around some along the river upstream from Milborne -- that's toward Thurmaster -- and now we're trying downstream. As for where we want to go, the Mire or the Wood, my vote's the Mire. The brigands we encountered in Lyrchwood may work there, ambushing travellers. But my suspicions lean toward the mire for the lairing of something evil. And the locating of Jelenneth or Zond."
Aloysius considered Arachne's proposition for a moment. "Brigands do lurk in the Lyrchwood, and brigands be evil. I say we search the Lyrchwood for more bandits. Better the evil in the wood we know, than that in the Mire we know not." The magic-user glanced around at the others. "Howe'er, I'll follow the desires of the majority."
Azrun looked at the party, he seemed a bit weak, but quite aware of the situation. "So......what are we going to do? There's all kinds of things for us to chase around here....orcs, lizard men, were-bears, druids with huge wolves, bandits who like to smack Aloysius around......I figure no matter which way we go, I'm going to get the snought beat out of me......What do you want to do?"
Pug offers to cast his phantom armor spell on Azrun. "If you would accept the small amount of protection it can provide, I can cast the same spell I did on Kaileer again today."
"The proverb about the evil ye know versus the evil unkown is meant
to apply to evils you have to live with, not evils you mean to root out,"
Arachne complained. "But if you do want to go after the evil you know,
then I strongly suggest that you use whatever knowledge you've got. It
isn't much, but we do have some idea -- some personally acquired idea --
what their tactics are likely to be: Wait in the woods for targets to amble
by on the road. Then shoot lots of arrows and send the members of your
gang with something to prove out to clean up. "So, if we go after the evil
we know, we first want to know where along the road to find it. I suggest
Kaileer and Pug to scout out those woods. I'd suggest me, too -- because
scouts are absolutely, positively, supposed to do whatever they can to
avoid getting into a fight -- but I just know that won't go over too well
with you big people. "So whatever size scouting party we do send into the
woods, we then wait to go ambling along the road until we know where the
ambush is supposed to happen. Then, we can set something up to ambush the
ambushers. An illusory caravan, tangling vines, sneaky rangers, whatever
Aloysius and Maisar might suggest. We could do that sort of thing -- if
we first scout out the evil we supposedly know.
"And then, if we take some prisoners and don't just kill them all right
away, we might learn useful things about the New Mire. Like don't bother
going there cause the evil lair is actually to the north, maybe. The gnome
shrugged. "Lyrchwood's fine with me. What do the rest of you want to do
while Pug, Kaileer and I go scouting?"
Gala sighed. "I guess wait and hope you all come back safely. You know my feelings on splitting the party, but I am certainly not stealthy and you seem to be set on your plan. So I will wait."
"Scouting?" the magic-user asked. "You wish to accompany a skilled elvish ranger and a crafty gnomish master of deception and misdirection, small one?"
Maisar speeks up and says "I think that we should all go to the Mire. As far as knowing where we were better when we were attacked, I do not think that any of us know it any better than the Mire. I may be mistaken, but I do not think any of us are from around here; so either place is equilly unknown, and there is safty in numbers." With that said Maisar looks back down
"Aloysius, it seems to me that something magical is likely causing the rebirth of this mire. I think magic was also involved in the disappearance of Zond and the girl. Who better to solve such a mystery than us?" Pug says with a nudge to Arachne.
Aloysius considered Pug's statement for a moment. "Aye, crafty one, thou couldst be correct. Howe'er, if magic be restoring the Mire, we might not want to challenge it. Some riddles be best left unsolved. Perhaps we should explore the Lyrchwood first, then the Mire if need still be."
Around midday, right before they reached Cutter Brook, they met a few families traveling with a couple of wagons and a small variety of livestock.
"Tag!" Arachne shouted, hitting Pug very gently. "You're it!" She jumped down off Puddlejumper and ran away from the horse. As it happened she was running straight toward the wagons and stuff.
Aloysius watched with interest as the gnome ran off down the road. "Tag?" he aaked Gala. "What be 'tag'?"
Kaileer cocked his head then smiled. "This be tag," he says, smacking Aloysius on the arm then taking off after Arachne.
Aloysius rubbed his arm for a moment and watched as Kaileer ran down the road after Arachne. Once again, the magic-user looked at Gala. "What foul magic be this?"
Gala was about to answer, when Kaileer did some explaining of his own. She continued to walk along, deep in thought
Gala said, still distracted, "Now you're supposed to chase him. If you catch him, he's it. It's a children's game, Aloysius."
Back up the road (and no doubt well out of hearing range of Arachne's conversation), Aloysius stood and spoke with Gala. "Gentle one," he began, "if Stargazer be taken by orc or brigand, or . . . . .worse, please delay these childish games until he hath been found. I'll do the same for thee." Nothing on Aloysius's face gave any indication that he was anything but serious.
"Aloysius, you are my friend. They will have to kill me to stop me from looking for you or helping you." Gala looked at him, very serious herself.
Aloysius drew in an audible gasp at Gala's comment. He seemed to even tremble slightly. "Stargazer be thy . . . . .friend?" he finally muttered. "Galaret . . .I don't . . . ." Thoroughly flustered, Aloysius simply stood silently as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Huh, what" Pug said being brought back to reality by Arachne's antics. "I'll get you short stuff, you can't get away from me!" Pug gracefully dismounts Puddlejumper and takes off after Arachne, assuming she hasn't fallen flat on her face.
Arachne sprinted away from the roused Pug and unimpressed Puddlejumpe having made not to bad a job of gracefully leaping off the horse and, in the classic, cliched phrase, "hitting the ground running." Her short, slight legs churning, she raced past the party members who'd chosen to walk forward of Puddlejumper. Giggling, she looked back over her shoulder at Pug. "Can't catch me!" she taunted, in complete denial of the fact that, had anyone wanted to exert him or herself a little, the longer strides of the others would indeed have enabled them to catch her. "I'm much too fast! Much, much, much too -- Oh!" Having covered most of the distance between the party and the wagons looking back and making sure that she was too fast to be caught, Arachne checked the road ahead and realized that there were horses and wagons on it. There was also at least one farmer ahead who wasn't smiling. Arachne stopped running. "Hullo," she said, with a child's mix of contrasting curiosity and caution. There was a child on one of the wagons. Arachne smiled at him and said more warmly, "Hi! Want to --?" Then she remembered that there was an unsmiling farmer and that he...
She panted and shifted her attention back to him. "Good morrow, sir," she said carefully, and curtsied. Gazing up at the farmer, she added, "I hope you are well and ... and recovered from our error the other day. We're very sorry about it. Are you on your way to town now?"
