- Derdriu:
- "I will depart tomorrow, taking Harthika with me, to go to the Circular City. I will take Thorongil with me as an escort. We will have a prayer service in the morning to honor the fallen. Everyone is expected. Now let's set watches and try to get a night's rest."
- [to Beeel]
- "You will be in charge here. There is plenty of room in the jail cells. Use it.
The halbardiers were still pretty cowed, so getting them into the cell wasn't much of a problem. Beeel and Meldrim expected Vajan to be a much trickier customer; Beeel wanted to knock her unconscious first and ask questions later, but Meldrim decided to start with a thorough search. ("I hope she's not modest.") Her scarf was reinforced with a wire that could be used to garotte someone, her boots had stilettos built into them, her hair concealed a combat-worthy pin, and her armpit held a small but reasonably complete set of thieves' tools. Beeel mentioned that her pack had included a traveling spellbook, along with some papers and potions Derdriu was holding on to.
- Meldrim:
- "Not your average cute little Western bard."
- Vajan:
- "I am an above-average cute Western bard."
Meldrim and Beeel agreed that as a spellcaster, Vajan's mind needed cleansing, so Beeel put his nunchaku around her neck and prepared to choke her weekly.
- Vajan:
- "Oh, come on. This is not a very Good thing to be doing."
- Meldrim:
- "You have me confused with someone else, my darling."
- Vajan:
- "I'm talking about him."
- Beeel:
- "Tell it to the guards who died today."
Beeel started choking Vajan, who decided she really didn't want to be unconscious, started tussling with him, and managed to break the choke. Meldrim tried to subdue her and swished a lot, while Vajan grew a big spike out of her arm and ran it through Beeel (who was already heavily damaged from the earlier battle and promptly went negative).
- Vajan:
- "Back off or I permatoast this boy."
- Meldrim:
- "You've still have me confused with one of the locals."
Meldrim gambled that his thief strike would land and drop Vajan before she could carry out her threat. He won. Vajan reverted to her natural doppleganger state (the clothes were real, not part of the shapeshift), and Lorcan got Beeel back to positive hit points with an aid and weal/woe combination.
Meanwhile, Ahlonna had been searching Asmodeus (the horse, not the greater devil) and came in with a sack of silver.
- Vajan: [to Beeel]
- "I wouldn't have spiked you if you hadn't tried to make me unconscious. I don't like people seeing me this way -- I feel so...Hey! That's my silver!"
The party noticed that Vajan was at 0 hp, so to keep her out of action longer, reduce her movement, etc., Meldrim punched her and put her weekly (before Beeel did it with the nunchaku).
- Meldrim:
- "It's harsher than I like to be, but since you've been walking through all our minds, you're too big a security risk."
Since the jail only had one big cell and it looked like the halbardiers might finish Vajan off if they were left alone together, the dop was locked in a storeroom in the basement of Tymark's keep.
In the morning, the party went about its usual business. For Derdriu, this included a ritual to keep the Belhor shrine's chant effect going. (It can only be performed by a Belhor priest and keeps the inner sanctum going for L days -- 8 in D's case, so safely longer than the 2-3 day round trip she'd be taking.) The slain guards were buried, and Harthika's body was wrapped for the trip to the Circular City. None of the noncombatants had been killed.
Derdriu led a solemn service to honor the fallen, and Lorcan managed an appropriately mournful dirge on the bagpipes. After the rites, Beeel addressed the crowd.
- Beeel:
- "Friends, we've successfully defended the keep against overwhelming odds. It saddens me that we lost so many brave warriors last night. But I'm comforted that the enemy sustained far greater losses. I don't expect further attacks in the near future, though it can't hurt to be prepared. Over the next few days, while Derdriu is away, we will continue to defend this keep. With Belhor's blessings we will protect our land and our lives."
- Refugee 1:
- "We can't stay here any longer -- our homes are gone, our possessions were looted -- where should we go?"
- Beeel:
- "Homes can be rebuilt. Possessions can be recreated. Let us rejoice every day in what we do have."
- [Lorcan shifts to a more encouraging tune.]
- Refugee 2:
- "Hey! Go back to that other tune, bard."
- [Lorcan goes back to the dirge.]
- Beeel:
- "Friends, I have heard that we have some skilled carpenters here. Let us spend the day rebuilding. In time our gates and homes will be as strong as they were before."
- Refugee 2:
- "Mr. Beeel, we saw that you fought very hard yesterday, and that you did so even though you are a slimy Easterner. I found that very touching. In fact, I would like to learn to fight. I have waited on the sidelines too long. Last night was a life-changing experience. Will you teach me?"
- Beeel:
- "Thank you for your kind words. I would be happy to train you, and whoever else is here, for as long as I am in the area. We can always use more fighters to help protect the keep.
- Refugee 3:
- "I would like to learn how to play your beautiful instrument."
- Lorcan:
- "I can certainly teach you the basics of the bagpipes, but mastering takes years of practice."
- Refugee 3: [crossing his fingers]
- "I don't plan to die anytime soon."
- Refugee 1:
- "I want to get out of here."
- Refugee 2:
- "Though six have fallen, twelve will rise up to take their place. Come on! Who is with me?"
- Beeel:
- "Even those without training can do an effective job of watching for intrusion. All it takes is resolve."
- Refugee 1:
- "At least seven fell, and many more almost did. Why do you think twelve will do any better?"
- Ahlonna:
- "Being trained will help you defend your homes better."
- Refugee 1:
- "We will follow you to the circular city. This place is in ruins and can shelter us no more."
- Refugee 2:
- "Go then. It's not like your sort is wanted here anyway."
- Refugee 3:
- "We'll learn how to fight, and play the 'pipes. We don't need you."
- Refugee 1:
- "When I return, you guys will be in graves beside those poor souls we buried this morning."
- Beeel:
- "Each man can do what he does best."
- Refugee 3:
- "And some are only good at running away."
Refugee 3, incidentally, was the one Meldrim had sensed being nervous and thinking of mad boars the day before.
Derdriu unloaded her healing for the day, in preparation for whatever the next disaster was going to be.
- Derdriu: [to Lorcan]
- "Though I disapprove of your deity, I was impressed by your actions both last night and this morning, and will heal you. Maybe you will consider a different path as you grow wiser?"
- Beeel:
- "You have a Tome of Wisdom for Lorcan?"
- Lorcan:
- "I thank you and Belhor, but I fear that my devotion to Nuket is unlikely to waver. It's too interesting."
- Derdriu:
- "Well, I thank you again for your brave work yesterday. I misjudged you somewhat."
- Beeel:
- "He'll probably still bounce wom balls off the temple, though."
Thorongil checked the tracks left by the retreating attackers and found they led southwest toward the fortress the Mask was based in.
Frankel asked Thorongil to commission a special arrow for him: an exact replica of one of Korda's arrows, but with no magical properties whatsoever. He hopes to repay Korda for the pain she's inflicted on horses by tying her up, gagging her, threatening her with the arrow (thus giving her a good scare), and then breaking the arrow and walking away in contempt.
Thirteen of the refugees decided they wanted to relocate to the Circular City (with all their belongings), increasing the E.T.A. from one day to three. Now that they'd be moving slowly, Derdriu decided they could afford to take the slain guards for raising as well, had their bodies put onto a sled, and rounded up all the spare horses she could find to pull them. (Asmodeus was taken, but Brand and Meldrim's horse were still safely hidden in Tymark's house.) One of the suspected informants (the one who hadn't been thinking of mad boars) was among the group; Meldrim quietly informed Thorongil and got thanked, while Ahlonna quietly informed Derdriu and got a vial of oil from the temple stores. (Ahlonna seems to like fire.) The C.C. contingent left around noon, and the remaining refugees set about blockading the west gate.
Meldrim and Beeel had another session with Vajan (with Frankel and Ahlonna observing). Meldrim had failed to get an esense lock when they first met (less than a week before this), and Vajan almost certainly knew this, but most of what she said seemed credible anyway.
- Vajan was an independent contractor for the Organization. (Rumor was this was the same Organization that operated on the frontier in the AK 570s; that group was almost certainly backed by the Shade Lord.) She doesn't really memorize from her spellbook but finds it a convenient prop for passing off her ESP-enhanced AC as an armor spell. She didn't think any druids were connected to the Organization, but she didn't know for sure.
- The Face was also working for the Organization, and Vajan thought she was a menace to everyone. When Vajan tried scanning the Face, she almost went insane but discovered that her mask was alive.
- Vajan agreed with Meldrim's assessment of Tiger's intelligence. He's gathering followers together to repay a debt to a druid, and even he doesn't know what the eventual point is. Vajan doesn't think Tiger's ever even seen an actual tiger and believes the ritual is a scam to separate wannabes from their money. (Tiger's band does include wereboars, however.) Lots of people are pretending to work for Tiger, but she doesn't think any of them actually are.
- Tiger loaned his wereboars to the Face for the attack, but their orders were to pick off survivors from her forces when they retreated. While the Face's bandits had been attacking the keep, Tiger and Narker (possibly at the druid's request) were attacking the Mask's fortress. The Mask knew that the attack on the keep was a distraction and didn't know what the larger plan was, but she came anyway. As far as Vajan knew, nobody was seriously planning to attack the Belhor shrine (not much profit to be had from it), and nobody was likely to molest Derdriu and Thorongil on their trip (same reason).
- Shatru has a "Mind like Clear Water" -- either there's nothing up there, or he's got some mental defense going.
- Biggs really was Vajan's brother ("and I love him dearly"). The scout from her previous team called himself Kossel and was singleminded with no people skills. She said the archer's only redeeming quality was that he was a decent shot.
- She didn't have much to add about Narker, since everyone already knew he was a total psycho. She'd never heard of Kohleen and had never met Korda personally but was under the impression that she worked for a demon.
- There is some special relationship between druids and dopplegangers (not surprising, since dops are actually intelligent plants) that Vajan recently learned about. She didn't say what it was, but she's pissed about it.
Next Beeel and Meldrim asked Refugee 3 (with the thoughts of wild boars) to help them fill in the tunnel into the goat pen. When they arrived at the tunnel, the rest of the party was there, and Meldrim started another round of questioning. The refugee played fairly dumb, though Meldrim was able to ascertain that he really was afraid of lycanthropes and this was related to his thoughts of them (but not the whole story).
- Meldrim:
- "I'm not generally a violent person, so I'm not going to kill you if you tell me how you're involved with the bandits. But if you play dumb for too long, some of these more adventuresome people might get annoyed."
- Refugee 3:
- "Look man, I don't want any trouble. I don't know what your game is, but I don't want any trouble. I don't want to blow your cover, but I will if you don't lay off, OK?"
- Meldrim:
- "What, that I'm a retired bandit? They already know that, ace."
- Refugee 3:
- "And they don't mind in this bastion of Belhor?"
- Meldrim:
- "Do they look like they mind?"
The refugee said he'd also worked Rognukena's keep and had sold weapons to Meldrim's band several years ago. (Meldrim didn't recognize him but didn't get the sense that he was lying. In fact, he didn't seem to lie again -- could be they'd gotten a mutual esense lock and the refugee decided playing things straight was his best option.) He'd recently heard about the Organization from some bandits, remembered that in the old days working for them was the job to have (equipment provided and everything), and had come out west to see about getting in (which requires an introduction from an existing member -- they're rumored to be recruiting experienced operatives only). He came across a horse thief called Griffon (a common enough name for a horse thief) who thought he could get the refugee (who went by Zarkon) in and told him about the wereboars. (He found himself wishing the werewolf-hunting ranger with the intelligent anti-lycanthrope sword -- which he'd gotten from the party many years ago, as it happens -- would turn up.) Griffon believed the Organization was recruiting for operations around Marakeel.
Zarkon wasn't taken into custody, though the party's keeping an eye on him, and together they filled in the tunnel. Meldrim told Zarkon he might have a job lead for him, and they'd talk in a few days. (He's considering recruiting Zarkon for Ylena's intelligence network, figuring she and Nomistrus could figure out if he's too shady for them to trust.)
On the first day out from Tymark's keep, Thorongil occasionally noticed a hawk flying far overhead. He and Derdriu decided that to make the best possible time, he'd stay awake for the entire trip (using his sash of sustenance) and guard alone every night, limiting their stops to what Derdriu needed to sleep and regain spells.
While Thorongil was patrolling their camp's perimeter, the refugee Meldrim had tagged as suspicious came out to talk to him.
- Refugee:
- "Why are you defending this lone, abandoned keep, out in the middle of nowhere with such vigor?"
- Thorongil:
- "I, for one, certainly feel it worthwhile to help out at times and places where I can, like now. If I hadn't been out this way for other things I (probably) wouldn't have come rushing to your aid though. I believe helping/trying to defend people who can't defend themselves (very/as well) is worthwhile in itself."
- Refugee:
- "Why would a powerful ranger lord concern himself with the lives of human peasants?"
- Thorongil:
- "Why not? Aren't you valuable too? And while some people might have resurrections lined up in case of death, it's important that those who don't don't die in the first place. Doesn't the West have enough trouble after the war, peasant-wise?"
- Refugee:
- "I have to admit that I have never really understood this whole philosophy of Good. It seems to me that to be Good, one must have a certain amount of `luxury'. Most of us are working like crazy just to make ends meet for ourselves. Where will we find extra energy to help others?"
- Thorongil:
- "Ideally, there wouldn't be any need for people like me to travel around beating up monsters and defending keeps -- then I could go be a farmer or a bartender or something."
- Refugee:
- "You would take up an ordinary job? You don't want to become Emperor or something?"
- Thorongil:
- "I don't see the advantage to something like that. If I knew really how to make everyone's life better maybe, but I know I don't. About the `luxury' of being able to go out and help others, we give up some of the other things that 'ordinary' people have -- I only occasionally see my family."
- Refugee:
- "I always figured that adventurers, both Good and Evil basically came from the same bucket. In the end, everyone wants power -- you don't?"
- Thorongil:
- "Power over myself, perhaps. I certainly don't speak for others; not even other `good' people - there are as many different shades of `good' as there are `good' people."
- Refugee:
- "I can't tell some of the Good ones from their Evil brothers and sisters to tell the truth."
- Thorongil:
- "Remember, the world is built on `ordinary' people."
- Refugee:
- "Yeah, we're the ones that everyone gets to tromp on."
It turned out there was something troubling this refugee beyond abstract considerations of good, evil, and power: the Order of the Ruins.
- Refugee:
- "The Order of the Ruins are a splinter faction from the Temple of Belhor. There was some political infighting many years back, and this group broke off. They're basically the same as the Belhor guys, except they think they're totally different. Right now, even after this whole war mess, they are trying to settle their petty disputes. I guess I shouldn't tell you this, but I got paid by one of those Ruins guys. I did it because I needed the money, and really, I didn't really care what flavor of Belhor got to rule the roost. But now I am having second thoughts."
- Thorongil:
- "Or at least they said they were Ruins? That part of trying to tell Good people from Evil?"
- Refugee:
- "The guy who paid me said that he was working for the Ruins and told me a little bit of their philosophy. Sounded pretty much like Belhor to me -- not that I'm a priest or anything. The basic philosophy is that great courage is born under conditions of great stress. The Order of the Ruins believes that tragedy builds character."
- Thorongil:
- "Tragedy can build a lot a things - character is one, death, defeat, bitterness are others -- the odds are against you..."
- Refugee:
- "I guess you wood elves have more in common with us peasants than I'd guessed. I pretty much feel the same way. Most of my family marched off to war. Everyone thought it was glorious to die for Belhor."
- Thorongil:
- "Wood elves are nearly the peasants of the elf races -- certainly high elves aren't!" :)
And then back to business.
- Thorongil:
- "What did the Ruins people (person?) pay you to do?"
- Refugee:
- "I was paid by them to help invaders get into the keep and to incite people to feel dissatisfied with the conditions. The second part was pretty much money for free -- everyone's already dissatisfied. Do you really care about saving the Belhor priestess' life?"
- Thorongil:
- "Certainly I care - I'd care about saving your life. Should I be worried?"
- Refugee:
- "The Ruins guy mentioned an ambush out here. I don't know much more than that. They'll probably attack when we have a weak person on guard duty. I think that they have spy bats on their side. I've already said too much. I guess I feel somewhat bad about all this -- I'm not really cut out to be one of those mercenary types."
- Thorongil:
- "You should tell Derdriu about this...but that is your decision."
- Refugee:
- "I can't tell Priestess Derdriu. That's why I'm telling you. I just wish we could go back to the old days, where we farmed and worried about the occasional elf-raid, and the evils in the East were just far away stories. You know?"
- Thorongil:
- "Hopefully if anything happens your fellows will not pay the price -- and you'll have to live knowing what you had to do with it."
The refugee went off to get some sleep. Thorongil guarded all night, and nobody attacked them.
In the morning, Ahlonna found a note (written in Western Common, with a crumbling statue icon at the bottom) stuck into the door of Tymark's house with a stiletto:
"Belhor is dead. Abandon this Keep for it is now Ruined."
Ahlonna took the note down and showed it to Meldrim (figuring he was least likely to lose morale over it), and they figured (or at least hoped) that someone already inside the keep had placed it there in the night.