Mists Over the Musarde, Chapter Three

[JMaytr]

Jonathan notices Norzak's gesture. Of course he'll be careful, Jonathan silently told himself, Norzak is the toughest dwarf he'd ever known, even Stoneguts didn't have the bravery Norzak showed him.

[ewancummins]

The party has split. Norzak Dorgio, and Jonathon have gone to the tinkers' camp where it lies out under the moon and stars. Alain, Cirdan, and Benn remain inside the Moot House with Wat- and a big crowd of other folks.

the tinkers' campsite

Norzak moves forward with Dorgio, as Jon hangs back a little distance.

He moves towards the tinkers and the music and once close enough, speaks out
"'Ello, might I join ye at yer camp? I be Norzak, Norzak Darkender 'o' Darkon."

The music dies down. The lithe young female dancers cease their whirling before the campfire and the old man who had been playing the fiddle now lays aside his intrument and watches your approach in silence, arms folded across his chest. A half dozen swarthy tinker-men emerge from the campsite and walk slowly about your about the three of you [Norzak, Jon, and Dorgio] in a wide loop. These vagabonds are dressed in the manner of gyspies you all may have seen back home- scarves on their heads, wearing baggy pantaloons, and equipped with long knives hanging from their belts. After getting a look at each of you from a safe distance, the tinkers fall back towards the edge of their camp. They approach Norzak and Dorgio.

One of the tinkers, a big man with a drooping mustache, speaks queerly accented Balok-

''Darkon? Hmmmmmm....... you must be lost. Do you know where you are now?''


Several of the man's companions chuckle all at the same time, as if sharing some private joke.


While this little interrogation proceeds, Jon and Dorgio may notice that another person in the camp seems to have taken an interest in them- a teenage girl. She peers at the trio of outsiders from behind the corner one of the nearby house- wagons. The girl is what most men back home would class an exotic beauty: smooth olive skin, long curling locks of lustrous black hair, big brown eyes. The shadows and the obstruction offered to your view by the large wagon conceal most of the girl's body from view, but from what you can see, she's petite and shapely. She looks to be wearing a simple gown. Something affixed to her exposed right arm gleams and glitters in the shadows.

[JMaytr]

Jonathans eyes move to the teen aged girl. She is only a few years older than the boy and something about her exotic looks that intrigues him. remembering the dark things his mentor had taught him about the mist wanderers, he continues to keep his distance.

[ewancummins]

Inside the Moot-House-

Wat replies to Benn-

''Mayhap it was only a bruin or some other beast of the woods that slew your friend, Bennedict. But....if it were something else, some uncanny thing, I think it is best that ye should ask a cunning man. I will take ye to one, Harrus by name. ''

Wat leads Benn across the floor, weaving through the noisy gathering [people are laughing, fighting, bartering,etc] and to a relatively quiet and shadowy corner of the great hall. There, on a pile of old bearskins, sits an old man with a cloak of fox skins draped across his bony shoulders. The graybeard motions for Benn and Wat to sit on the floor with him. His bright blue eyes regard Benn intently, moving quickly under his wrinkled brow.

Wat leans over and whispers in Benn's ear-

''The custom is that one must give some little gift to the cunning man at such a time.''


Meanwhile, across the great hall-


Alain is working the crowd, seeking for rumors, legends, and hearsay. His methods, while less direct than those seemingly favored by most of his party, are quite effective. He soon finds an affable middle aged man who seems to be only slightly tipsy on honey-mead, and who claims to know about the castle in the woods and the witch.

''Ah...the Witch .....yes, I can tell ye of her. Here, sit with me and share a drink, friend. Ye must have come from far away not to know of her.''

''Well now...the Witch- she has a true name but I'll not speak it aloud, for it may bring us ill luck- she lived a long time ago. This was in the time of our great grandfathers' fathers, or maybe even before that. The land was different then,. The forest, it was less than now, and thinner. Men kept great gardens over broad meadows, and many pigs and goats, and other beasts besides. The Moot-house was not alone then, but many other lesser cabins stood near it. I know that's true for I've dug up some things of the olden times in the ground about here- old tools, the line of a vanished cabin, things like that.''

The storyteller takes a pull of mead from his goatskin and then offers the bladder to Alain.

''Ahhh......hmmmmm....the old days, yes. The land was full of folk then, and the whole country was ruled by a lord who dwelt in a great stone house atop a hill. He had a fair daughter, but no strong sons who lived to be men. His daughter.....whose name I'll not speak...she married a stranger, a man said to be deep in the Black Lore.''

''Now, the old lord, he fell ill, stricken by a terrible curse. His daughter tried to save him. From her husband she learned all she could of the Black Lore, but cunning spells availed her not. The old man died and his daughter went mad with grief. She had her husband killed, his head struck off with an axe. She sent her huntsmen to hound the priests of the Fear Father, for she blamed them for her father's demise. No one was safe from her wrath, for any she suspected of treachery might be killed.''

''By her evil arts, she called demons out of the black skies and commanded them to her service. These night-haunts, they flew across the country after sundown and sought out any who spoke against their mistress. Those borne away thus were never seen again.''
Here, the man pauses and watches for Alain's reaction before continuing the tale.

[ewancummins]

Jonathans eyes move to the teen aged girl. She is only a few years older than the boy and something about her exotic looks that intrigues him. remembering the dark things his mentor had taught him about the mist wanderers, he continues to keep his distance.

The girl smiles at Jon from the shadows, moonlight glinting off her pearly teeth. She moves a bit closer , coming more out into the light. Jon's earlier impression of her is borne out by what he sees now. She is quite lovely. She looks to be aged sixteen years or so, and she has certainly the body of a woman.


While Norzak speaks with the lead man and Jon's attention is occupied by the girl, Dorgio may notice something else going on: the tinkers seem rather intersted in Dorgio himself. He may notice that he's the target of stares. A couple of the men converse in a language Dorgio might possibly recognize, and it is neither Balok nor Luktar....

[Adam]

Bennedict bows to the man, fumbling around in his pouches for something to offer as a gift. Finally, he pulls out his box of pipe tobacco, holding it up to the man as an offering. "It is not much," he says, "but I ask only for lore. One of our number was killed by a beast of the woods near the witch's tower. We had ventured inside, for we have traveled far and did not know the peril which lay within. He appeared to have been attacked by a beast, perhaps a bear. However, the dead man was a skilled woodsman and tracker, and I do not believe that he would have been bested by such a creature. Do you know of any monsters, or anything else unnatural that stalks those woods?"

[ewancummins]

Bennedict bows to the man, fumbling around in his pouches for something to offer as a gift. Finally, he pulls out his box of pipe tobacco, holding it up to the man as an offering. "It is not much," he says, "but I ask only for lore. One of our number was killed by a beast of the woods near the witch's tower. We had ventured inside, for we have traveled far and did not know the peril which lay within. He appeared to have been attacked by a beast, perhaps a bear. However, the dead man was a skilled woodsman and tracker, and I do not believe that he would have been bested by such a creature. Do you know of any monsters, or anything else unnatural that stalks those woods?"

The old man accepts the tobacco and tucks it away into a squirrel skin sack.

'I can help you. Your friend that was slain, what manner of wounds had he on his body?''

[ewancummins]

the Moothouse-


While Alain talks with the tipsy talespinner and Benn interviews the cunning man, Cirdan has become quite the center of attention. A small crowd of folk are gathered about the knight. Small children creep forward to touch his armor, then dart away. People stare at him and chatter excitedly back and forth and heir speech is similiar enough to old fashioned Darkonese that he can make out some of the comments.


A man remarks to his companion-
''He wears iron-clothes! He must be from beyond the Forest. ''

Two girls gossip-
''Do you think he is a man like our menfolk? Look at his face, it seems strange, though comely enough.''

[Le Noir Faineant]

the Moothouse-


While Alain talks with the tipsy talespinner and Benn interviews the cunning man, Cirdan has become quite the center of attention. A small crowd of folk are gathered about the knight. Small children creep forward to touch his armor, then dart away. People stare at him and chatter excitedly back and forth and heir speech is similiar enough to old fashioned Darkonese that he can make out some of the comments.


A man remarks to his companion-
''He wears iron-clothes! He must be from beyond the Forest. ''

Two girls gossip-
''Do you think he is a man like our menfolk? Look at his face, it seems strange, though comely enough.''

Cirdan, visibly uncomfortable, smiles a broad, but still forced smile that makes his Elven ears pop up and down for a moment, and waves his iron-cled hands to the people.

"Don't be afraid, good people. My companions and me are here to help you with whatever may trouble you."

[ewancummins]

"Don't be afraid, good people. My companions and me are here to help you with whatever may trouble you."

Cirdan's annoucement sparks a string of excited comments from those around him.

''Ye come from beyond the Forest!''

''He's no tinker!''


''Look at his metal clothes....it's like something out of the old tales!''

[Lord Skybolt]

" Go on it's a very interesting legend . I would be very pleased to hear how it ends ." Thinking to him self: It seems to jibe so far with what we encountered so far I say .

[ewancummins]

" Go on it's a very interesting legend . I would be very pleased to hear how it ends ." Thinking to him self: It seems to jibe so far with what we encountered so far I say .

''Of course, where was I? Oh yes....

The Witch ruled the land now. She frightened away or destroyed anyone who opposed her will. Terrible plagues carried off many of the people and strange blights withered the gardens and herds. Some say it was the witch's doing, and others hold it was the Fear-Father working vengeance for his murdered priests.

Only one man ever tried to stop the Witch, an ironclad warrior from a far land who rode upon a great hooved beast. He rode to her stone house and tried to assail her, but she worked charms on him and made him into her creature. Tales tell that he rides yet, and some folk claim to have seen the hoofprints of his mount in the woods, or even to have heard him come riding past their cabin doors at night, clattering in his metal garments.

After the rider met his doom, little hope was left. They who could flee the land did so, but our forefathers were unable to escape, or else unwilling to leave. The roads became tangled, and in time no man could easily find his way out of the Forest.

No one knows the true fate of the Witch. Some folks say it's her shade which haunts the Witch-Hold, and other says she lives there yet, kept eternally young by her mastery of the Black Lore. What's certain is that some part of her must remain there, for no one who has entered has left alive since the days of my grandfather, and those who did manage the feat before my grandfather's time all went raving mad or else died of fever. ''

[Lord Skybolt]

"Well I thank you for the Story my friend, but I have to be getting back to my friends now . Have a good night . " With that he slips Silver piece into one of the old mans pockets(1). And goes back to Benn to relate what he has learned from the old man to see what Benn makes of it .






(1) Sleight Hand Check 26 .

[steveflam]

"I'd like ta know where we is and more importantly how ta git back. An
one a ours was killeded in a gruesome manner by some beast from the forest I thinks. Kin ye inform o anythin ye know? An ther be some ghost at the castle back there but our weapons is not any good. I be blunt but that be the only way I knows to be honest an blunt mind ye."

[JMaytr]

Jonathan strains to hear what Norzak is saying, but he is at least 200 feet from his companion to make out the words correctly. He tries to read the dwarf's lips, but finding this ineffective, returns his looks to the teen aged "tinker". A strange, almost alien feeling comes over him...like at the brothel when the older woman had decided to usher him into manhood. It is only after a long moment that the boy realizes he is staring.

Jonathan tries to look away, but cannot. The young girl has him "bewitched".