Gala circled the priest, trying to keep him with his back to the archers. "Your spells aren't as powerful as you thought, eh, follower of the Mad God. May Lathander bring you to a swift end." She swung again with her flail, trying desperately to connect.
"They serve me well enough, pretty," the priest muttered, quickly saying another prayer. He reached out and touched Gala as she circled him. Suddenly, she fell to the ground, unable to do much of anything. "Get her and go," the priest told the archer who was getting up off the ground. The man moved to Gala's side and struck her in the back of the head with the hilt of a short sword, knocking her out. Half-dragging, half-carrying her, he ran from the fray.
Blacky awoke to this scene, but the zombie that was on him prevented him from going to the priestess' aid. He defended himself valiantly, fighting for his life from a prone position on the ground. The zombie hovered over him, but finally his axe found its mark. The zombie fell to the ground.
The zombie fighting Lasiar was unaffected by his attempt to turn him. The zombie gave the priest a fierce swipe, nearly disemboweling the silverstar. The blow was so hard that the zombie's hand came off even as Lasiar fell to the ground.
Aloysius took up his odd pose and stabbed at the zombie on him. He was unsuccessful, but the zombie did not hurt him either. A bright light streaked across the battle from behind the tree Aloysius had originally used to hide and struck the zombie. The undead creature fell to the ground.
Aloysius took up his odd pose and stabbed at the zombie on him. He was unsuccessful, but the zombie did not hurt him either. A bright light streaked across the battle from behind the tree Aloysius had originally used to hide and struck the zombie. The undead creature fell to the ground.
Azrun struck the zombie fighting him with his staff. The creature hardly seemed to notice as he struck out in return, but his strike was ineffectual. The zombie lashed back a moment later, however, slashing a wound open across Azrun's chest. Azrun wobbled on his feet, but stayed up.
Kaileer and the zombie on him exchanged blows to little avail. Finally, Kaileer struck the creature with his club, but it did not fall.
A lightly outlined blue portal appeared in front of Arachne, which she quickly stepped through. The bandit after her stopped in stunned surprise, not willing to follow her into the unknown. The gnome appeared out in the fog with Blacky. She witnessed Gala's plight and trailed after them into the darkness.
Jana finally ended the battle with 'her' bandit, striking the man with her sword. He fell to the ground and she turned her attention on the surprised bandit, dealing him a hard blow as well. Before he could turn his sword on her, she hit him again and he fell to the ground as well.
About that time, the man from the fog arrived at Lasiar's side. He stablized the near-dead priest and prepared to leave with the unconscious body. Blacky, Jana, and a woman in a gray tattered cloak from behind a tree all charged towards the hooded cloaked figure that was about to steal Lasiar. The figure weighed his options for only a moment. He left Lasiar where he lay as his cloak suddenly transformed into huge, bat-like wings. The man flew away into the night. Almost as soon as he was in the air, the remaining zombies collapsed to the ground, once again just corpses.
"Damn you dark priest!" Blacky shouts while shaking his axe at the flying figure. "Next we meet, I swear you won't walk, or fly away." He says in a lower voice. It is then that he seems to notice the arrows sticking out of him. "Would anyone like to remove these shafts? They seem to be relieving me of my life's blood." Blacky says a little unsteadily.
A few minutes later, Arachne returned with a very weak Gala.
Azrun swayed with the breeze as he looked around at the massacre, then looked to Torro, "Somebody....needs...to check....on Torro...". He turned to take a step toward his fallen friend and crumpled to the ground.......
Aloysius dropped to one knee and took a couple of deep breaths after his zombie-enemy toppled lifelessly to the ground. He then took a moment to survey the battlefield. After retrieving his daggers from the corpse in front of him, he stumbled back to the form of the chain-mail clad man that he had put to sleep earlier.
After kicking away the man's weapon, Aloysius called to the others. "Quickly! Does someone have rope?" The mage glared down at the sleeping man. "Finally, mayhap answers shall we have to this madness."
Arachne was finding a comfortable place to put Gala, finally deciding to guide, cajole, or whatever the priestess over to the fallen Lasiar. At Azrun's words, she answered distantly, "He's dead. I'm sorry --" At the noise Azrun made crumpling to the ground, she looked over at him. "Uh oh," she whispered. "Gala..." She gestured at the priest. "Please... He may need haste. I'll have to hope I can be quick enough with Azrun."
Arachne knelt by Azrun. She ignored the strange woman. She also postponed looking at the rest of the wounded, since they were evidently still walking, or, possibly in the case of Blacky, crawling.
Gala struggled to breathe against the massive weight of her armor. "Arachne, can you please help me get this armor off? Then can you help me check on the others? Torro, Azrun, Lasiar..." her voice trailed off. "Is there anyone that is not wounded?" Gala tried to crawl toward the wounded...
"Lasiar first," Arachne urged Gala softly. "Then, perhaps he can help you with the others..."
Aloysius's valuable prisoner Arachne prioritized lower than making sure more people didn't die.
Aloysius stood by the sleeping bandit for a moment, awaiting an answer for his call for rope. Obviously, the chaos of the entire setting had prevented him from fully understanding the gravity of the situation.
"GALARET!!!!" he cried mournfully upon seeing the Morning Lord topple to the ground. He sprinted across the battlefield to where she was and knelt down beside her. He looked at her frantically, not knowing exactly what to do.
"GALARET!!!!" he repeated. "Thou art injured! What can I do . . . .?" The mage looked at Arachne as she tended to Azrun and then saw that Lasiar apparently wasn't capable of doing much at all. Tears welled up in the thin man's eyes. "Galaret . . .please, tell me. What can I do?"
"Priest of Cyric ... took away all my strength. Help me get the armor off?" Gala pleaded with the mage, close to tears. "I need to see if I can help the wounded. Azrun and Lasiar look particularly bad, but others look bad as well."
A look of deep panic swept over Aloysius's face. "Oh my . . . . ." he muttered as he quickly tried to figure out how to undo armor. "Hold still, Galaret, hold still. Stargazaer shall assist thee . . . . ." With that, Aloysius frantically tried to undo the clasps and hooks that held Gala's armor in place.
Gala, weak as she was, looked at Arachne angrily. "Thanks for helping me, Arachne. I am so weak right now I can hardly stand. Thanks for telling me what to do too. I'm sure my fluffy little brain couldn't figure it out that folks needed healing. Also, I really appreciate you assigning me to which person I should heal. I'm surprised you allow me to heal on my own at all. Maybe Lasiar can tell me what to do to if I heal him." Then turning to ignore Arachne, Gala, struggled to get her chain mail off. If she succeeded, she crawled to whomever looked most badly wounded.
Gala helped Aloysius as much as she could, which wasn't much. She didn't seem to have the strength. Once the armor was finally off, she touched his cheek lightly. "My thanks, Stargazer. Will you help me to the wounded now?"
Aloysius gently wiped a tear from Gala's face and placed his shoulder (such as it was) under her arm for support. "Mayhap Azrun first?" he asked. He then placed a protective arm around her waist and waited for her to direct him.
Blacky supports Gala's other side. "Where to Morninglord?"
"Ah, Blacky, you are too kind. She looked at the arrows in his flesh with sadness. Then let me see if I can help you too, ok?" she leaned on him and Aloysius as they made their way to the fallen Lasiar.
Aloysius silently nodded and helped Gala over to where Lasiar was, careful not to trip over the zombie hand that was next to the priest's body.
Aloysius looked over as Blacky supported Gala's other side. For a moment, the mage looked almost suspicious of the large fighter, but then his expression softened. Once the three of them reached Lasiar, the mage silently moved off and looked out into the distance. Without seeming to notice the woman who had identified herself as Echo, Aloysius called back to the group. "Methinks we should look for Puddle Jumper. Close yet must he be, and I fear for him alone in these dark woods."
As the undead creature fell to the ground, Kaileer looked at the chaos and shook his head. He dropped his club and pulled his knife out of the corpse at his feet, wiping the blade on the moss of the forest floor. He then went to the sleeping bandit, removed the man's belt and used it to tie his hands behind his back. He then used his knife to cut off the man's cloak and brought the it to bandage Lasiar's wounds. And did what he could for Torro.
Arachne had optimistically left Gala close to Lasiar before going to Azrun. At Aloysius's outburst, she sighed. "Maybe the yelling _won't_ bring any bad guys back," she hoped to herself. "Wonder where they come from, anyway?" More loudly, she called to Aloysius, "She wants help getting her armor off. So help her," she added. "I don't think she's injured, exactly." Then, she returned her attention to Azrun.
Gala said, "After Lasiar, I will heal Blacky, then Jana. Lasiar won't be conscious until tomorrow. So maybe someone else can help Kaileer. I'll have more spells in the morning, but I think we need to get out of here when we can."
The woman in the worn gray cloak looked around in surprise as the group of people she was standing among began to tend to the wounded. She was a short, frail woman with short copper-colored hair that was unevenly cut. Her dark eyes darted back and forth nervously from a tan face. She watched the weak Morninglord with some concern, but as soon as she realized that few people, if anyone, were paying attention to her, she disappeared back behind the tree.
"Who the hell are you?" Jana moved toward the woman, her sword still in her hands.
"Who the hell am I?" the woman asked quietly as she backed away from the other woman with the sword. "People usually call me Echo." She continued her backing away until she got within the tree line, where she stood and watched the others nervously.
Gala glanced at her briefly and tried to smile. "My thanks for your help, Lady. It was timely indeed. I must heal some folks now, but perhaps later you would talk with me?"
Blacky eyed the tree that the woman was hiding behind while Gala worked on healing the zombie claw marks on his back, but decided not to comment on her sudden appearance.
Echo looked Gala, "Talk to you? Sure." She looked around at the bodies scattered around. "I need to find my things," she said to herself quietly before she began to poke around among the dead and their belongings.
As Gala tended to Jana's wounds, she spoke, "Echo took out a couple of the archers for us, Jana. I'd say she's a friend. That's why I was trying to keep the priest of Cyric's" here, Gala shuddered, "attention away from the trees. That didn't work out quite the way I'd planned."
Jana blinked a few times. "I can see why." She glanced down at her bloody sword (and her rather bloody self) and said with more than a hint of exasperation in her voice, "C'mere. I won't hurt you, not unless you give me a reason." She Put the point of her sword on the ground and leaned on it just a bit. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" asked Echo as she glanced down at the fallen archers. "I was kidnapped by these men. While you fought with them I wriggles out of my bonds." She moved warily toward one of the dead men. "I would like to find my things. I believe one of these men still has what I lost."
"Kidnapped?" Jana perked up considerably. "By whom? And to where do you need to be returned?" Jana was a tall, athletic young woman in rather bloody chain mail. She had jet black hair and dark violet eyes. Other than her unusual eye color and fresh arrow wounds, there was nothing remarkable about Jana's appearance. She carried a bastard sword and had a mace on one hip, and empty scabbard on the other, and a shield on her back.
"Maybe she kidnapped by men we fight," Kaileer said as he returned from gathering his equipment. The elf had a wild appearance about him with a tan complexion and sharp features. He wore leather armor over buckskin clothes and a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. Tucked into his belt was an club carved to resemble a bird of prey, a knife with a bone handle and the sheathed longsword you saw him take from the warrior Aloysius had put to sleep. He also has a small metal shield strapped to his back. In his hand he carried a shortbow decorated with feathers.
"I Kaileer," he introduced himself in heavily accented common, "we take you back town, not safe be alone in forest, you be safe with us." said the elf, "less danger," he corrected as he looked at the arrows sticking out of Jana and his own injured shoulder.
"Go ahead and check for your stuff too. You took most of the archers down. We owe you." Jana smiled wearily from wherever she was...
Jana shook her head. "I'm willing to bet these goofballs aren't the ones ultimately behind a kidnapping. Theft, rape, murder, sure, but not kidnapping."
Echo bent over the body of the closest fallen archer. "To where do I need returning?" she repeated Jana's question as she searched the body. "I have recently lived in Candlekeep, but was journeying to see various cities when kidnapped." She emptied the archer's purse (if it had not already been done) on the ground and placed all weapons she found on him next to the coins.
"I suppose any ole place will do for returning me, although... yes, I suppose any place will do." Turning her attention to Gala and Kaileer, she continued. "Thank you for your kindness. I should attempt to repay you for the opportunity to escape these men by telling you that the priest you fought was, obviously, their leader. He kept me bound hand and foot most of the time, as well as hooded."
Jana looked a bit confused. "So who were they going to ransom you to?"
"Ransom? I don't know. They could have ransomed me to anyone they liked but they wouldn't have likely seen a copper for me." She dug through a pack on the dead man until she found a book, "Ah, there it is." She looked back at Jana, "I think I heard one of you say that the priest was a Cyricist. Maybe they're Zhents. They practice the slave trade."
"Pardon my curiosity," asked Gala, "but may I ask your profession? I was wondering if the priest was collecting other priests for some reason." She blushed slightly as she asked Echo the question.
"My profession," Echo said flatly. "I don't really have one. I was apprenticed to a wizard at Candlekeep but I'm finished with that now. I can cast a few spells. I am definitely not a priest," she smiled.
Gala smiled at the woman. "Well, there's that theory shot to hell. Maybe he just wants spellcasters of all types. Either way, Echo, I appreciate your aid and am glad to meet you. Glad you are well."
After Arachne tended to Azrun, he woke, "Torro? is he?"
Aloysius moved over next to Kaileer briefly and spoke to him in the fey tongue.
The ranger cast a curious look too Aloysius then smiled and clapped him on the arm. "Blah blah, blah blah blah."
He then started on Puddlejumper's trail.
Aloysius exchanged some more elvish words with Kaileer, and then moved over to where the chain-mail clad bandit still slept on the ground. Speaking to no one in particular, he said, "Methinks we had better bind this villain afore he doth rise. A rope, a rope, my er . . . .zounds, have no kingdom do I, but still have I need of rope." The mage looked around for someone to produce some of the requested item.
Aloysius watched as Kaileer headed off after Puddle Jumper. The mage then went and examined the tie job Kaileer had done on the sleeping bandit with his belt. "Hmmmmmm . . . . ." the mage said as he looked at the bandit, "that doesn't look particularly secure." He looked back for a moment at his comrades to see who might be of assistance.
"Janathell," he called, "please . . . .bring some rope. This man will awaken anytime now and it would be a shame if he escaped." Aloysius looked back down at the bandit. "Prepare to open thy heart villain. Many answers doth Stargazer expect of thee."
"There's some in the right-hand saddlebag on my horse if you want it," Jana replied. She made no move to fetch the rope.
"My thanks Morninglord, never have I felt such power. It seems that my wounds are all but healed, before it would have taken almost a tenday." Blacky exclaimed after the arrows were removed and Gala cast her spell. "Now lets see what this bandit has to say about his dark master." He said with a dark look in his eyes.
Aloysius went over to where Sweetie/Horse/Dammit was and rumaged around in the saddlebag until he found the rope. Then he took it back to the sleeping bandit. After the mage managed to find one end of the rope, he looked at it, then the bandit, then back at the rope. An expression of confusion swept across his face. "Humph," he exorted. "Ne'er afore hath Stargazer had to bind another." He looked back at his companions. "Mayhap one of thee hath knowledge of such things?" he asked, holding the rope out to no one in particular.
Arachne found a long piece of silk rope in her backpack. She brought it over to Aloysius. Seeing the wizard's indecision with the rope he'd already found, Arachne said, "Well, I've -- That is, I've been experimenting with this _some_. I mean... This used to be Pug's --" She glanced briefly over at the late Torro. "I could _try_," she offered. "Maybe we'll be lucky and the belt will have been sufficient."
While still occupied with that puzzle, Arachne later asked, "Can you tell us where these men attacked you?"
"Where? Sort of. I was traveling along the river, but I don't know where I was exactly," Echo told her.
Aloysius looked at Arachne quizically. "Thee and good Pug didst bind one another with yon silken rope? Mayhap you should bind this man then. I trust not our fate to 'luck'".
Arachne glanced up at the wizard, her expression as puzzled as his. "Huh? No..." She shook her head, then resumed study of the rope.
Aloysius looked at Arachne, then back at the bandit, then back at Arachne. "Well, methinks I can wait no longer." The mage looked over at Blacky. "Eric, would you stand by me as I awaken this man? If he becomes hostile, or frees himself from yon belt, I may have need of thine good right arm."
Blacky walked over to the bandit and rope. "Where did you two grow up that you never learned to tie simple knots?" Blacky looked at the two with utter confusion evident in his face. He took the rope from Aloysius and bound the bandit's hands and feet.
Azrun come to after Arachne's healing and looked at the fallen Torro. He went over and knelt by his fallen friend. He covered his eyes with his arm in silence.
Azrun finally looked up at the rest of the group as they argued with each other and bantered with woman who had been hiding in the trees. His eyes dried quickly and filled with anger.
Blacky walked over to the bandit and rope. "Where did you two grow up that you never learned to tie simple knots?" Blacky looked at the two with utter confusion evident in his face. He took the rope from Aloysius and bound the bandit's hands and feet.
"Grow up?" asked Aloysius. He considered the statement soberly for a moment, but said nothing.
Arachne shrugged and put away the other rope. She then moped around the site, avoiding Torro's body and giving only cursory attention to the fallen foes.
"Awaken him mage, I would question him about his master." Blacky said to Aloysius.
Azrun stood shakily and moved quickly toward the sleeping man, "I'll wake the bastard!" He raised his staff and swung it down toward the man's chest.
Arachne stayed away from this, too.
Aloysius looked on with wide-eyed surprise as Azrun accosted the bandit. The mage tried to get in between Azrun and the captive as best he could. "Darkwalker, art thee mad?!? This man doth hold answers long sought to the riddles with which we struggle. What hath possessed thee?" The mage then tried to cover the bandit with his own body in an effort to prevent the bard from repeating his attack on the bandit.
Azrun stopped. His arms were trembling terribly, "Aloysius get out of my way. This bastard and his friends killed Torro. I think it's time we evened up the odds a bit. I ain't going to kill right now. I'm just going to beat the hell out of him for awhile. You can ask your damn questions while I beat on him."
The mage looked sadly perplexed at Azrun's statement. "Strongbow is . . . .? But I thought he had been tended . . .?" The mage pulled himself off the bandit and looked over where Torro lay. "Oh my . . .not again . . ." the mage muttered sadly. "Forgive me Darkwalker, I was looking for Puddle Jumper afore, I knew not." Aloysius then stood back and sadly lowered his head at his oversight.
Aloysius looked down at the bandit carefully to be sure he was out. Looking back and forth at his companions, the mage said, "Well, perhaps he will be easier to transport this way. Mayhap we should turn him into Kuiper since he seems to act as local constable?" The mage looked around at the site of the recent battle. "We can interrogate him along the way. Surely there is some type of base camp nearby." He looked back down at the unconcious bandit. "If he'll not volunteer information, Stargazer doth have magics that might extract the information from him."
Azrun smiled at the crunch, "Yeah! How do you like being attacked you some of a bitch! Not to fun to be attacked when you're not expecting it!" He kneeled down next to the man and woke him back up, "Oh no you don't! You're going to be awake to feel this! Wake up you bastard!"
Arachne had nothing to say about the discussion over the unconscious bandit. She stood thinking about the dead bandits who smelled almost, but not quite, fishy. Then she went to one who had already been relieved of any valuables and, after stripping the poor wretch, began inspecting his corpse closely.
Aloysius stood back and mused about possible actions by the party as Azrun proceeded to beat the crap out of the bandit. The skinny man's nose twitched as he caught the smell of the bandit and the archers.
"Fish? Aye, 'tis a similar smell to the one emanating from the bandits Tersa and I did slay. Mayhap Kuiper can tell us where these men might have been to cause them to smell so."
The mage then looked on at Azrun as he readjusted the bandit's skeletal structure with his staff. "Remember Darkwalker, slay him not! No clues shall he provide from the other realm."
With that, Aloysius shuffled off to inspect the tree that had withstood the mighty lightning bolt earlier in the day.
"I'll carry him." Blacky offered and began removing his armor to lighten the load assuming Azrun agrees. "I am sorry about your friend, I too have lost many friends and family before coming to this place." He said to Azrun with a shudder at his own memories. "But this one is just a pawn in the other's darker game. We need the information he holds in order to strike at the head of the serpent." Blacky calmly tried to reason with the Bard.
Azrun smacked the man around for a few minutes longer then stood up, "He may be a pawn but he probably had a choice in the matter also. I'm done with him. You can carry him all you want. No one heals him though. I want him to suffer for a while." Azrun took Puddle Jumper's reigns from Kaileer and led him over to Torro's body. He slowly gathered up Torro's belonging and pushed his body up onto PJ. Once he was sure Torro wasn't gong to fall off, he took the reigns once more and led PJ off in the direction they had come.
Gala yelled at Azrun, "STOP THAT!!! That won't bring Torro back. And Torro wasn't unconscious when they attacked him either. You soil yourself, Azrun!" Gala was quite appalled at Azrun's actions.
Gala bandaged the man despite Azrun's wishes. She ignored Azrun unless he physically tried to stop her. She was quite clearly furious.
Azrun stood up and looked at the woman, "You're right it won't bring him back and Torro wasn't asleep at the time either. Who say's we have to play nice. Those sons of bitches are coming out of the woodwork. Your priests friends were jumped by surprise maybe it's time for some pay backs. And another thing yours and Arachne's bitching at each other ain't going to solve any problems either. All this group has done from the beginning is bitch at each other and hide secrets. I mean really, whoever heard of a gnome that could shapeshift or create little green portals to step through. What the hell is up with that? I've had it with this shit."
Gala spoke again, rising to her feet angrily. "I know you are upset and thus feel justified in taking your anger out on me at Torro's death. But you cannot tell me to stop 'bitching', which I don't recall doing in the first place, in one breath and saying 'let's stop playing nice' in the second. Frankly, I don't think I should be traveling with any of you."
"I'm taking Torro to Kuiper's to lay him to rest. The rest of you can come with me or stay here and rot with the rest of the corpses." Azrun turned and went to take care of Torro.
"Fine, I'm heading back to Waterdeep. Enjoy." replied Gala. Gala turned and headed toward whatever road would take her away and back toward her home.
Echo watched from her position in the tree line as Gala and Azrun packed up to leave the group. "Is wandering these woods alone in the dark a good idea?" she asked no one in particular.
Aloysius apparently hadn't heard all of this conversation since he was busy inspecting the tree that had been struck by lightning earlier. He looked away from the tree as he noticed Gala heading off down the road. "Galaret?" he called, scurrying after her. "Where art thou going? These woods be dangerous, as thee doth well know. Stargazer did think we were returning to Kuiper's to bury Strongbow."
Gala turned to look at Aloysius, unshed tears visible in her large violet eyes. "I am sorry, Stargazer, but I cannot take this life anymore. Save for you, I really have no friends here and no matter what I say it comes out wrong. I will try and make it home. If I don't, then Lathander grant me a new beginning elsewhere."
She touched his cheek gently. "I am too naive to be out here. I wanted to be a hero and I'm not sure they exist anymore. I wish you all the best, my friend. Please watch over yourself." With that, Gala turned and walked away once more.
Aloysius stood dumb-founded as he listened to what Gala had to say. He started to argue, but he could see from the look in her eyes that nothing he could say would change her mind. Stifling the tears in his eyes, he embraced the young priestess in a long hug and softly sobbed. As he pulled away, he grinned and wiped away his tears. "Galaret . . .thou art the best person e'er afore Stargazer hath met. It is my honor indeed to call thee . . . .'friend'." The mage seemed pleased that he could get that last word out without a stammer. "My destiny be with this band for now, 'though I understand why you take the course you do. One day soon, after this madness is over, Stargazer shall venture to this place you call Waterdeep and seek thee out. I shall regale thee with the tale of how evil was purged from this land and we shall talk of yellow-breasted thrushes and gray-backed squirrels anew."
The mage smiled broadly. "I didst seek out adventure hoping to learn of new things and to improve somehow upon myself. I have learned much about goodness from thee, Galaret, and am forever in thy debt. I will miss thee deeply. If 'pon some unfortunate circumstance we meet not again, please try and look at the night sky from time to time and think kind thoughts of me. I'll do the same for thee upon viewing the rising sun. May thy lord light thy path, gentle one."
Aloysius then turned slowly and walked back towards the group. He didn't look back as Gala walked away, but if he had, the Morning Lord might have seen the tears rolling silently down his narrow cheeks.
Arachne stood up from the corpse she'd been examining and went to Aloysius. "If you couldn't persuade her to stay," she said, "I'm sure there's nothing I could've said. Besides which," she added, kicking a root, "she's only being prudent. Zond's vanished. Pug and Torro are dead. Maisar also left..." She sighed. "Would've liked to escort her as far as Scornubel, though. Just to be sure that she was safe." "Has anyone found anything on these bandits to give us a clue where they come from?" she asked loudly. "Besides the fishlike smell, I mean. Jana? The one I looked at -- I don't find anything about him except that he's a man." She went back to the corpse she'd been looking at and covered it approximately with the clothing she'd removed. Then she went to Lasiar. "If we're to leave soon," she mused, looking at the priest, "then I think we'd have to carry him. That won't go very quickly." She glanced at Azrun, who was by Torro. She looked at them, but didn't say anything.
Aloysius wiped the last tear from his cheek and looked down at Arachne. "Her lord will protect her. She hath not left to be prudent, methinks. Nay, Galaret shall do much good in this world, e'en if it be not here. She was the best of us, Arachne, and mayhap we all would be well-served by kind example."
The mage composed himself the rest of the way. "Now, let us leave this miserable place. On to Kuiper's where we can hold a service for Strongbow. Then, we shall pursue these darkling dogs 'til the earth's end if need be."
As Kaileer lead the horse back into the clearing, he noticed Azrun beating the man and shook his head then found a large tree and climbed to see what he could from the higher vantage point.
When he came down, Gala was walking away and the ranger guessed from Aloysius's expression that she was not going for water. With a shake of his head, he sighed then grabbed his pack, "I see all later," he said simply and ran to catch up with the priestess.
