After breakfast, Rhees looks to Pietro and Antonia and addresses everyone, "The three of us have spent a great deal of our energy to try and bring everyone closer to full health. We could travel again, but we would be without the tactical advantage that Pietro, Antonia and I can bring to a hostile encounter. Having lost Manus' axe and both Amibar and Plebius' spells, I'd b more comfortable waiting another day before continuing. If we do continue, let us make it a short day and stop well short of Death's Head country."
"I disagree Rhees. Staying this close to Threshold is asking for troubles. Let's just move ahead, in our planned direction and try to avoid combat. Yes, AVOID combat Forte; Rhees is right about one thing, and that it that we're running low on any magickal support."
"Jeez.. only a couple of weeks ago I nearly never saw any spell casters, let alone see them in action. Now I owe my life, more than once, to them. The world is to be explored in all it's depths: let's move on to the Golden Valley, and see if we can find anything out before that in Death's Head Country. I'm eager to explore some more..." says Ullar, his good mood returning as well as the characteristic smile.
"Owe your life to spell casters? Ever had your gut healed by a spell caster?" Pietro looks really serious, or is there a hint of irony in his eyes. "Just for the record, some people get very pissed of about this, and it might save you trouble later. There are two distinctive sorts of what you are calling spell casters. There is the spell casters you known, like wizards and bards. They are using spells. They take they energy from the universal forces around us. The other type of magic is divine magic, which is used in the form of prayers. Priests, and strong rangers and paladins are all able to use the divine. Like wizards have their spell book to learn their spells from, we have to pray to our god to get our prayers. Each god has his own portfolio of prayers a priest can use, just like every wizard has his spell book. Ullar, you are interested in learning about religion, aren't you? I did quite some study in that area, are you interested in special gods like the Greek, the Norse, or maybe even the Egyptian ones?" A small smile plays the lips of the elven priest. "Naturally, you should say that you are interested in the Greek gods now, since you have been healed a priest of the Greek god Hermes. By the way, you do not have to pay for the healing. It is freely given, though it would mean an extra sign of respect towards Hermes and its priesthood."
Debating a moment on Pietro's thoughts, the group decides to move on, as this is not a particularly pleasant or well-hidden place to stay for days on end.
Heading north alongside the river, you cannot see a point to easily cross it, particularly not with the horses. While you can clearly see the opposite side, the water is deep and fast, and would surely carry you away if you were to try. Interestingly, Daegwyn sees that there are some traces of an ancient road running here, a paved one at that! It must be a thousand years old, and strongly constructed to not have totally faded by now.
Looking at the road, "I wonder who made the road? It looks incredibly old." Rhune puzzles.
The sun rises high in the afternoon sky as you continue the so far peaceful voyage. Up ahead, you see a thin tendril of smoke rising up into the air off to the right of the river.
"Hey.. that's smoke on our side! We'll have to investigate it, but let's stay together. The last time someone went scouting it didn't end up the way we planned..." says Ullar, with a wink to Rhune.
Rhees appears disappointed to see smoke, "Hmm. Smoke might mean traffic, it might also mean witnesses who could tell Golthar and his goons we passed this way. I'd still like to be better prepared for unfriendly encounters. Daegwyn, do you think you can use the old road to pick a path that would make us harder to track? Then we could find another hidden camp - or do we go find out what that smoke is about?"
"I agree with you, we need another night to be fully prepared. If we can avoid the people up there, I guess we should. On the other hand, we cannot go back. Maybe they even have information for us how to cross the river. Let's ride on carefully, and try to avoid them if possible." There is a hint of doubt in Pietro's voice, he is not totally sure.
Glancing over, Rhune pulls to a stop. "Now what?" she asks. "How are we going to find out about what that is all about?"
"Well, we can either march over and check it out," offers Forte, "or we send someone to sneak over and hope they don't get caught or killed." He looks around at the others. "I vote for marching over as a group. Splitting up does not seem to work too well for us."
Trying to return his wink, Rhune makes a halfhearted attempt. "I agree, if we are going to investigate then we should stay together. It might be in our best interest to find out what is causing it. I mean we don't have to engage, but it might be useful to know if we will have to fight later or not." Rhune nods in response.
"As I said, let's check it out together. We can always retreat when necessary..." says Ullar.
"Ullar's plan it is, then." Forte looks around the group. "Unless someone else has a better idea?"
Tolik nods. "Sounds reasonable, but be careful, please."
Moving closer, cautiously, to the origin of the smoke, the group sees it must just be a small campfire or similar, as it isn't much smoke. Somewhat reassured by that, everyone comes closer.
Arkady stays with the main group as he is not at all stealthy.
Rounding a small hillock, a flock of large black crows suddenly takes to the air, cawing loudly, evidently startled by your approach. Scattered around the smoking remains of a large fire are a few pots and pans, the torn fragments of some bedrolls, and a broken spear-shaft.
"I don't imagine those crows were discussing whether people speak different languages," Rhees smiles at his reference to a lighter moment. "Whoever is responsible may still be lurking; perhaps we should keep in sight of each other as we search the area. Crows are scavengers, but perhaps they got ahead of themselves and we'll find survivors." By the look on his face, it doesn't appear that Rhees holds much hope in his last statement.
Taking Rhees' words not lightly, Ullar approaches the deserted campsite cautiously. "A broken spear shaft, what could that be, a sign??" he asks to no one in particular.
Rhune dismounts and looks around the camp carefully. 'Whoever was here didn't leave all that long ago for there still to be smoke. And the fact that there is still some gear here is puzzling.' she thinks. "I wonder why they left this stuff here?" she tosses out to the party.
"Most of what's here is junk, Rhune, I don't think we'll be claiming anything here. Perhaps the raiders took whatever they thought was of value."
Tolik sets in, searching through the broken camp for some sign as to what might be going on.
Rallying the help of Daegwyn, who with Antonia have been almost completely silent since reuniting with you, Tolik digs around the campsite for clues as to what might have happened here.
Glancing over at Tolik, "Did you find anything else? I find it puzzling that these things were just left like this." Rhune asks him.
There are patches of blood in several places, fairly fresh, perhaps within the last day or so. There are also scores of footprints around the fire. Interestingly, the footprints appear to be a combination of hard boots and long, four-toed animals. But the animals must have run on two feet, unlike most animals, even bears. The animal prints outnumber the boots by about three to one, virtually covering the site. These prints lead noticeably to the north further up the valley, and are even more recent than the blood, within the day certainly.
Smoking amongst the embers of the fire are quite a few bones. Doing your best to retrieve them and examine them, they are certainly human. Full skeletons of three separate humans, with one exception. The skulls of all three are missing. Close examination of the bones reveals that they were certainly gnawed upon before being tossed into the fire. No trace of anything other than bone remains, and you suspect that these persons were eaten quite thoroughly before being discarded.
Tolik looks around the unearthed chaos with a concerned look. "I can't help but think, 'the gnoll welcoming party?' I can't say I like this much..."
"I fear you are correct, Tolik," says Forte seriously.
"And apparently the traditional gnollish welcome is to gnaw the flesh off your bones." There is no humor in Rhees' one-liner this time.
"Well.. seems we entered Death's Head Country. It doesn't take much to figure out that these four-toed tracks are Gnollish. We could try to follow those tracks and see where they bring us, but it's late already. Should we stay here for the night?" Ullar asks.
Looking upward, Ullar notes that the skies have darkened considerably in the last hour or so. It seems that the high mountains on either side keep the sun from shining down onto you, even though it is not evening yet, by your calculations.
"I think that we should not go any further, maybe we should even backtrack for say half an hour, I do not particularly like to sit here in with something that seems like half a graveyard." Pietro looks at the skeletons, feeling the hairs on his skin rise. "Double watch is a good idea I reckon."
"Yes, double watch," agrees Forte, shivering a little and wrapping his cloak about himself as best he can.
"I will take a watch, perhaps the second one," Rhune replies as they start to figure where to camp for the evening.
"Did anyone see any personal belongings within these remains? There must be something we can find to identify them. Anyway, I'd say that we take double watch when it's time to sleep; I don't want to be unpleasantly surprised in this area." Ullar says
If there was anything which identified the skeletons, it's either gone or burned in the fire.
Looking up at Tolik and the others Rhune shudders, "It would seem that we are in Death's Head land even now. We had better tread cautiously from here on out." she says.
After the searching, Ullar walks over to Pietro. "Interesting lecture about magicks; it's all quite new to me. Well.. I worked at a temple of Mercury, so I'm not an idiot on these issues, but still, I didn't know that there were two forces were you can retrieve your powers from."
Surprise shows on Pietro's face. "You have been working in a temple of Mercury? What did you do there? Temples of the old Roman gods are not really well known in Italy, and they are mostly run in secret. The catholic church is not really well known for its accepting for other beliefs and gods. I do not know if you know this, but the old Roman and Greek Pantheon are in fact the same. Because of the language difference, the Roman gods have different names, but in the end they are the same. Mercury is the same as Hermes! What a coincidence! There are two ways you can get powers from, but not everybody is able to make use of the powers. To use the energy a wizard uses, you need to study them, and need certain talents before you can manipulate it in the way of spells. The same goes with prayers, not every believer can use prayers, only a small percentage ever turn out to be a priest."
A bit ashamed that he didn't pick this up, Ullar replies: "Well. I was merely a guard there and performed some tasks which required some heavy labor. But thanks for the information, I find it very useful! I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, my friend. I'm wondering if there is a way for me to get familiar with the devoted life of a priest. It's just too bad that I don't know enough of the world around us. Until now I've always been compensating that with strength, which, as you can see, I have plenty of."
"Who does know a lot of the world around us? I have traveled a bit in Italy and Greece, but I can't say that I know a lot. The most important thing is the will to learn. Another thing is to be happy with what you learn. More knowledge only leads to more questions." Pietro obviously enjoys this conversation, even though he still takes his watch seriously. "Do you already follow a specific god, or aren't you sure yet? The most important thing is the fact that you are acknowledging that fact that you need more in your life. It may take a pretty long time, but it can be done. It has happened before that warriors changed their ways to that of a priest, but it is a pretty rare thing."
"I'm not that far that I can say I devoted my life to some God. It's just that I have to acknowledge that I'm missing something, and I'm not sure what it is. It might be something which has to do with religion in general, but on the other hand, it also could be that I miss the fact that, with all that has happened, I will never be able to return to Florence and fight in the Arena in a way the original Gladiators are supposed to: no cheating, man-to-man until only one remains. This purity, this devotion is what got me into fighting at all; it was due to master Morpheus that I realized that we, me and some of my friends amongst the gladiators, were held with mere promises and used to gain money only. It was a coincidence that I picked it up, but it made a decision pretty easy: Ullar was out of there.
Tss.. what I would do to enhance my knowledge... I think I would even be willing to sacrifice some of my strength for it. Those are the things I think of when I'm laying in bed, wondering what to do with my life." Ullar says.
"Don't think of the gods as sacrificing things, they are an enhancement." Grinning, Pietro adds, "you do not seem the type to follow a god who wants a lot of sacrifices from his priests. You are thinking what to do with your life? Funny, you are on a mission to try to rescue the right of people to choose which god to follow, and you are thinking about what to do with your life? If we will manage that feat, I reckon every priesthood wants you as a priest. I will tell you what happened to me, and how I got to be a priest. I have been living in Florence all my youth, until my father Georgio was transferred to Athens. My father was a priest of Hermes as well, which led him to a lot of places in Italy and Greece. I like Athens just as much as Florence, there were plenty of libraries, so I spent a lot of my time reading and researching the history of the gods and religions. I wasn't a devout follower those days. I tried to find something by studying, but I didn't have a clue what. One day, my father was on a mission in Athens, when he went missing. They found him after two days, stabbed in the back several times. Just before he died he gave me his holy symbol."
Pietro takes the small symbol from under his shirt, which is a Caduceus. "I was mad with grief, and try find out who the killer of my father was. He must have been stepping on some mighty toes, as I couldn't find anything, and everything reeked of a cover up. In the end I quit searching, and went back to Florence, to see if I could live over there in peace. It just wasn't the same without my father. The night I decided to go back to Athens, my father came to me in a dream. To put it shortly, he said to me that I should lead my own life, and not look back in anguish. The day after that I felt reborn, ready to take on the world again. I went back to Athens, and studied a lot in the abbey my father was stationed. One night I had another dream, and Hermes came to me. I will not tell what happened, because that is just too personal. From that day, I stayed in the abbey as an acolyte, learning the ways of Hermes. This is my first assignment as an acolyte. I am saying this wrong now, because since I left, I gained faith very fast. When I return, I will not be an acolyte any more, but will have another rank." It is easy to see the amazed look on his face as he obviously never thought abut this before.
"That's an impressive story.." says Ullar, while continuing to listen to Pietro. "It's just so strange, everything went so quick. I had escaped Master Morpheus and ended up, at last, at the meeting in Florence. Since then my life is a mess. Been attacked by the most weird animals and persons and nearly lost my life two times. Not that I'm afraid of death, but still, with my 23 years of age I think it's a bit to early to go.." the warrior adds, smiling a little.
"Weren't you a gladiator or something like that?" Pietro asks. "It is always too early to go, live while you can. The gods will take care of you dying, so why worry about that?"
"I disagree with you on this issue. I don't think that Gods will take care of me dying; if I die, it will be due to my own decisions which brought me in that position. I cannot and will not become the same as those 'priests' who try to get you into a discussion in the middle of the street where they say it's there task to 'convert' you to the righteousness and that you should hand over your soul to their God, since he is almighty and all knowing. To me, every individual is in control of his or her life. I realized that after my escape from master Morpheus and see what it got me into.." he adds, while smiling a little.
"I've got the feeling that I can get more out of my life; that I have more qualities than being able to slay someone. The past couple of weeks with this group I've witnessed myself that I have it in me. Never expected to be seen as a leader, and I was feeling quite uncomfortable with it at first, but now I see that's it not that scary as I expected it to be." Ullar says.
"You are right, you are a good and charismatic leader, you still need to gain experience, but you will be good. You should do what you are good at. You have the respect of everybody in this group, and you are the only one who could fulfill the role of leader. You have my support in that." Pietro gravely adds.
"Thanks for those kind words, Pietro. I value them highly. It's the first time anyone have said something like that to me." Ullar pauses a brief moment and continues: "I will never become as Master Morpheus. I will never try to lay my will up on the others. I've got my own style, perhaps that's the right phrase and as long as there is nobody amongst us who feels uncomfortable with that, I'll gladly continue to perform in this role. Trust is the most important thing which binds us and I'll do my best not to damage your trust in me. Thank you Pietro... for everything."
"Still, sometimes I would appreciate it if decisions are made without my consultation, but that's just the old protected feeling returning from the time I was employed in the Arena of Florence. Nah.. to have the ability to determine where I go with my life is exiting and incredibly interesting. I never thought about that before, but lately, as I said, I'm pondering where this all will lead to."