Adjusting his seat, the warrior sits up and starts his speech: "We've come this way to assist Stephen and Taras in the selling of the horses, which benefited us as well. However, now the time is there to plan ahead. I'd like to explore the golden area which was shown on the tapestry in Sukiskayn. I don't know why, but it intrigues me and if Golthar was behind it, I'm sure something valuable must be located there."
"I, too, am curious Ullar. Not sure why but I think there is something about this area that may be very important." Rhune replies as she tucks into the mushroom soup that sits before her.
"It has to be important," adds Forte. "Why else would a magic needle and thread use a magic tapestry to show the location? It may not be related to the Bishop, but something extremely important is up there."
"Exactly. But whether it is related to him or not it behooves us to go and see." Arkady replies around his dinner, with out looking up.
"However, before we can get there, we have to travel up north, passing Threshold in the meantime and end up at Death's Head, a gnoll invested area which seem to frighten almost everyone. The good part of that, is that it most certainly will frighten the ones send after us as well. It's dangerous, but I'm willing to risk it. Heading back to civilization is no option for me, nor for others who heard their death-sentences as well." Ullar continues.
Ratlin frowns and steeples his fingers, listening further.
"Understandable. However at one point we will have to return to put things right and to destroy the Bishop. I for one would like to have the means to do so. And I agree the risk would be worth it if it gives us the means to do so." Rhune adds, taking a bite of the black bread.
"Sneaking into Threshold is a thought. But why do we need to stop there?? If we properly equip ourselves here, couldn't we avoid the entanglement of Threshold by going straight into the mountains??" Arkady asks.
"Why? Because it's a village not infested with Catolik influences. And next to that, we need to employ some trainers to work in Sukiskayn, to train the men properly in the use of weapons, maintenance of armor and warfare in general. Akhitos mentioned the rumor about 'Lord Ullar's Resistance Army', well, I plan to form one. Although it will not be an army, not by a long-shot, I will try to get as much people which are aligned to our cause, in Sukiskayn. As Rhune puts it, I'm eager to get back on the Bishop as well, some day, and I think that a fallback scenario in terms of a guerilla force might not be the worst option available to us.." says Ullar, determination in his voice.
"Okay, Okay. Sorry. Sign me up for a commission Ullar because it looks like I'll be with ya for a while my druug. Does Petr know of your plan to make his town a base camp for war on the Bishop?? Perhaps we should form our own camp/citadel from where to lead the strikes on the Bishop?? Maybe the golden land in the mountains is a place we can be safe from him and raid out from??" Arkady scratches his chin as he speaks.
"Thanks Arkady, your skills will certainly come in handy. And no, Petr doesn't know this, but I think he suspects something. He benefits from this whole exercise as well, because if we don't need an armed force Sukiskayn will be well protected against any goblins raids.." replies Ullar.
"Truth is in your plan. Petr will gain benefit from this but I do feel wary of laying our headquarters in among those who may be ill treated because of it......" Arkady says.
"When the time is there, we can always move to a more convenient place..." replies Ullar, ".. although I understand what your aiming at."
"I have been thinking. Is it merely coincidence that Sukiskayn and the neighboring villages are having so many problems at the same time Jerhoba is gaining power? Or is there more to it? Akhitos mentioned a tie between Golthar and the Bishop. Is it already know that the people there are not quite behaving as the Katoliks would have them?" questions Tolik.
"Good point, Tolik. There must be some connection, I agree with you on that one, but why these little camps? They don't have that much inhabitants, nor do they possess any danger towards the Bishop." Ullar replies.
"But, mighty oaks from little acorns grow," notes Forte. "At least, that's what my mother used to say. In time, if the villages grew quickly, they could pose a threat. Best to wipe them out now, before they get too powerful. Or perhaps, the Bishop was just looking for that magic tapestry. If everyone was dead, it'd be pretty easy to walk in and take it." The warrior shrugs his massive shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe the Bishop just likes spreading evil."
"That tapestry could be the connection Forte, that very well could be it!" says Ullar, while rubbing his right temple with his right index finger.
Arkady comes to a halt and slaps himself on the cheek. "OF COURSE!! The persecution of us Orthodox by the Bishop's green skinned minions would put Petr's tribe in danger. Tolik, I feel confident that you may have something here. The Bishop would definitely want all of the people in his area to be Katoliks, so he would plague and destroy all non-Katoliks. That would include the Orthodox, Olympians, Pagans and elves too. GODS!!! To think of the audacity!! He is bound to start an Inquisition or Crusade to wipe us all from Italy. We must be at haste to defeat this vile plan!!" Arkady is a flurry of movement and energy as he finishes his statement and his drink in one fluid motion.
"Does anybody have a clue what the God of warfare is? A priest of that deity is most probably the best thing which can happen to us.." Ullar asks.
"For elves it is Corrlellion Larathan. I am not sure what it is for humans." Rhune replies finally finished eating.
Pietro looks up, hearing the conversation about the god of war. "The god of war in Italy is Mars, he resembles the Greek god of War, Ares, a lot. Both are war gods, but not the type anybody of us is likely to follow. They are more into the bloody and violent aspects of battle, instead of heroic fighting. They do not really attract a lot of followers in both countries, and are despised by a lot normal soldiers."
"Hmm.. the reason I was asking is that we might find someone there who could train men in Sukiskayn and the other camps. If he or she is of a different religion, we would be ensured that no Catolik influence is tampering 'our' forces..." says Ullar with a wide grin. "Anyone an idea about this?"
"Ideas enough, we just have to focus them," Pietro says with a laugh. "If we search, we might be able to find a priest for an Italian or Greek god, and is able to train people. Especially if we have a bit of evidence against the catoliks. In the end though, the catoliks are the victims, not the aggressors. They are being controlled, and used as a conduct. There is a lot more to this situation, even we do not know half of it. You have to know as well that the Roman and Greek gods are pretty similar, it is not an uncommon thought that those gods were one once, but were separated in some unknown way. I will think about a priest of a certain religion, you will hear from me again about this subject." Stubbs approaches with a very rough sketch of the northern Mediterranean coastline. "Doesn't show the top part, but most of it is there." Handing it over, he chides, "Make sure to return that, and you might want to keep it down. Just because they are all elves doesn't mean that you're safe amongst them." He shakes his head as he departs.
Arkady looks over the map and nods. "This will do. Thanks Stubbs"
"He is probably right, you know. This is a public place, and we never know what might be around, we should try not to get TOO comfortable," says Tolik, a concerned look crossing his face.
On about their third day at the inn, Forte approaches Asif. "Your wedding date grows close, my friend. Is there anything I can do to help you with this wondrous event?" the warriors asks with a smile.
Asif seems to have gone into a contemplative state, obviously shaken by the revelations of Akhitos regarding his homeland and the coming wedding. He shakes his head and does not speak.
Ratlin spends most of the day in his room studying and going over the Identify spell wondering why he got confused over the workings of it. He memorizes magic missile.
After greetings have been made and everyone returns to their daily routine, Rhees seeks to gather the people he had been traveling with recently, Taglio, Plebius, Antonia, Daegwyn, Manus and Caboto. "Friends, traveling in these parts seems to be a costly venture, and we all have purchases we would like to make. Perhaps a couple of us should approach one of the local merchants to see if we can find a buyer for the necklace we found in the spider's lair and the nugget the dwarves and gnomes rewarded us with. I speak elven and would be happy to take care of the matter, unless someone else has some training in the commercial arts that they would like to put to good use."
"Rhees, I think you will do very well as our sales person." Antonia smiles as she says so.
Giovani Caboto, sitting in the Inn's common room, had nodded politely to his earlier companions, and welcomed the sight of Tag, Plebius, Antonia, Manus and Rhees.
"Good morn! Seems Ullar and that group found the Blue Tube, and are having a wedding. Other events have also transpired, but you have overheard some of it too."
"Rhees" said Caboto, rubbing his reddish beard. "I would gladly accompany you to a merchant. I am not unversed in discourse and exchange. Unfortunately I am only fluent in Italian and Gnomish, so will not be much help should the elf speak only one idiom."
"I am well versed in the arts of the fence and pawn, mio amico. I am sure with your elven and my stubbornness and eye for a charlatan, we can get a good price." Tag replies.
Rhees looks to the two men, "Ah! an embarrassment of resources - what a pleasant change. However, I don't wish to overwhelm the local merchant with a whole troupe of anxious deal makers - Giovani, would you be amenable to being our dealmaker next time? Tag has already appraised the goods we are selling and is perhaps better prepared to deal for them. If you feel very strongly about being involved, however, I will step back."
Giovani smiled. "Three would be a crowd, Rhees. I will wait for another opportunity to barter. In the meantime, I will use the free time to make sketches of the Blue Tube and its rune-writing. For posterity, if nothing else. I do love a good mystery and I may discover something useful to use when we ride into Death's Head country, which we may just do!"
Seeking out Arkady, Caboto greeted him warmly. "Good to see you again, Arkady. We must talk more of your travels later, over an ale perhaps. Foremost I am bursting with curiosity regarding the Blue Tube. Could you arrange to help me see and inspect it? I overhead that your friends are having difficulty opening or deciphering it. I make no promises of success, but one must try, no? Also, I'm sure we would all like to see this focal point of the foul Bishop's ire..."
Arkady seems in a foul mood. He nods and seems pleased but other emotions trouble him. "Caboto I am glad you are back, we can use your science to help us. I will ask the others about the tube."
"And what's this about a wedding?" Caboto continues.
"Rhune and Asif are to be wed. They are deeply in love and it cheers my heart to watch them. After they are wed and the pact sealed we are leaving for the Death's Heads Mountain fastness to find a land of gold. Fun, eh??"
Giovani seeks out the tube and makes sketches of it, transcribing the runes into his books, estimate it's weight, and come to his own conclusions as to how it might be opened.
"The blue tube? Oh yes I have it. You can take a look at it." Rhune says rather distractedly. She goes back upstairs to fetch the tube for him to look at in the inn.
Believing that he has betrayed his own true self, Arkady dedicates the week before the wedding to recovering his fire and passion for life.
Arkady remains silent and sullen during the week. He avoids contact with any one and spends his time wandering the village, the river bank and the forest. He gathers bugs, leaves and rocks that are new to him and he dedicates a large amount of time to their study. The only time he is around is at meals, but even then he is extremely terse and uncommunicative.
Arkady's drawing begin to shift in theme. Even though he draws of a rock or a flower or a spiny legged beetle, the drawings are dark, angular and shadowy. Some drawings are of shadowy men, seated in large thrones with other men chained beneath them. Goblins, spiders, wolves, and shaved headed men on horseback form a grotesque menagerie of ink and crayon as Arkady's emotion spill out onto the papers.
The wedding plans seem to be going without a hitch for several days. Asif spends much time alone in ritual preparation for the ceremony, and Rhune seems to have some health problems, but otherwise the group is moderately cheerful at the coming ceremony. Those more attuned to nature spend much time outside of the village, which the elves seem to have no problem with. Indeed, there are often villagers out wandering through the woods as well.
Often, the group sees a happy elf riding one of the white horses they provided. Indeed, they seem to be very popular, and you hear rumors that Prestelle the Trader sold her stock for on average two hundred florens apiece. The ones that bought from Rhune and Pietro continually talk about what a great deal they got, and are quite pleased.
As the wedding approaches, Stubbs finalizes the plans, with cakes and plenty of other arrangements. Rhune's dress is finished, and everything seems to be in order. The pack is able to use plenty of Rhees and Taglio's small gold to supply themselves and put a mattress under them for the week.
Tolik takes an opportunity while everyone is gathered together to talk to the members of Antonia's pack. Keeping his voice down so another patron would be unlikely to hear unless deliberately listening, he asks, "So, what have you guys been doing since we went our separate ways, and what brings you to this area? Just us, or something more?"
Rhees, who actually looks a little older now that he has shaved his sparse beard and bathed, seems happy to get a chance to catch up, "As you know, we went into the mountains to help with a problem there. It turns out a giant spider had been hunting dwarven and gnomish miners. In the process of hunting the spider we came across an older set of caves that housed all sorts of oddities. In addition to these dark orcs that clothed themselves in black and adorned themselves with gold earrings, we fought these strange animated statues - three foot tall silver jackal-headed humanoid shaped they were. But the magic that animated them only did so in one room. And then there was this vile purplish blob thing that we had to burn - it seemed immune to our weapons. It seemed rather fond of beating on Antonia - twice it nearly killed her. And then there was the spider itself." Rhees stops suddenly as all color runs from his face. Taking a deep breath, he resumes, "But the reason we're here is Plebius' success. He managed to charm the prisoner we had taken. Under the spell's effect, this prisoner revealed to us a certain amount of information regarding this Golthar character and an ambush waiting for you at the tower. We had hoped to catch you and pass on the information while it was still useful - we apparently missed you by a couple of days at several turns. Now it seems the information is out of date. Still, we as a group all have our reasons to oppose the Bishop. Since that is what you are doing, we thought it would be best to coordinate our efforts. Perhaps even join forces."
"Statues you say? Hmm, I think we ran into a few of those at that trap you came to warn us of." He winks at Rheese, adding, "But of course we handled them, no problem. A couple little taps and they were dust. Hardly even had to break a sweat." The sarcasm that never is far for Tolik touches this last bit, giving one the idea that the statues didn't make themselves the easy kill his words would indicate.
"I suppose I can fill you in on our current plans too, while we are all settled and talking. It seems that after the wedding, we are heading to a rather unpleasant place north of hear called Threshold. Again, I'd like to mention I'm against it," he pauses, casting a rather annoyed glance at the other group members. Continuing with heaping sarcasm, "The BRILLIANT plan is to (whimpering) disguise as a band of mercenaries, and waltz in and recruit an army."
He rolls his eyes, and resumes his retelling in the same hushed voice, "Now, after that SMALL matter is taken care of, thought we might take a nice pleasant hike up into an area fondly referred to as Death's Head, and see if we can find anything lying around. That's because some weird rug and a needle created a map that's directing us strait into what probably is a goblin camp."
He takes another sip of sharp white wine, then asks, "Sounds like a good idea doesn't it? Bah!" The good mood that was beginning to seem like him appears to be fully gone, replaced by whatever this current one is.
Rhees smiles at Tolik's cultivated curmudgeonliness, "And what path would you favor taking at this point Tolik? I grant that raising an army seems grand. But the Bishop has an army of his own. And while the small group tactics have been working so far, there will come a time when you'll have to face the Bishop. How would you go about it?" Rhees pauses, genuine interest in Tolik's answer clear in his eyes.
Tolik stares momentarily at Rheese with a look of shock and total surprise. Quickly regaining his composure, he adds in a voice that is only slightly puzzled, "Ahh, hmmm..." A pause, then while scratching his head, adding, "Well, I guess my bluff is called. Shouldn't criticize the ideas of others if I can't come up with one of my own."
Another pause, and Tolik adds, "I guess I would favor heading straight to Death's Head. I find it hard to believe that the Katolik agent could be in Threshold without having a fairly major influence. And as it seems to be less known, that would seem to indicate he is involved in more subtle activities. Anything there would be likely to go unnoticed until too late, unlike the obvious clues that have been leading us by the nose. Not to mention the fact that it would be unlikely that we could raise a large enough force to combat the Bishop in open warfare, even if he looked the other way while we tried to do so."
Tolik has Ullar's complete attention. The warrior contemplates the elf's words and starts scratching his chin again, a habit which tends to reappear once he is in doubt.
"I think you are right Tolik. And by saying that I have to offer my excuses to Arkady as well. It was my intention to go to Death's Head country and visit Threshold in the meantime but Stubbs and you made it pretty clear that if there is indeed a Catolik representative there, this only would lead us into bigger problems. If there is a way to avoid Threshold and get all the necessary supplies from the Rifflians we should do that."
"Pietro, Forte, what do you think?" Ullar asks.
"It sounds good to me," agrees Forte. "Let's avoid Threshold for now, if we can. We can always hit it on the way back from Death's Head country, if we need to."
"Well you all know my mind on this." Arkady continues his rapid walk back and forth.
Tolik looks even more shocked by Ullar than he was by Rheese, if this is possible. And Forte adds in, and Tolik can be seen pinching his arm discretely. Softly to himself, he mumbles, "Ohh, gee, I didn't know... I mean, I didn't actually think anyone would listen... Err, I need to keep reminding myself this place isn't like home."
Taglio comes down the stairs of the inn and motions the inn keeper for some breakfast. As he sees Ullar, Rhune, Arkady and Tolik sitting at the table, his face breaks into a broad grin. He quickly comes over and sits himself down.
"Ah! Mio Amico, it is so good to see you!" He gives Ullar a big hug and kisses Rhune on the hand. Then shakes hands with the others. "It feels like a long time, even though it has been only a few days. Rhune you look positively radiant. Are you all well?" Tag tucks into some wine and bread.
With a wide grin, Ullar returns the hug! "Taglio! You've come back right on time! We have a wedding to celebrate! You must help us with a song to honor our two friends!"
Rhune hugs Tag as she sits down next to him and listens to the conversation.