Mists Over the Musarde, Chapter Three

[Adam]

Bennedict describes Buckman's torn out throat, drawing an impression in the dirt of the bite marks to show the man the size of the bite radius. "As I said, under other circumstances we would simply assume that he was attacked by an animal. However, we were at the witch's tower, and whatever killed him took his weapons when it left."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

His eyes dart to the girl a moment, but then the stares and whispers, while not unexpected, strike a nerve, and he tenses briefly. But then, he directs the nervous energy into a friendly chuckle in response to the tinkers' own laughter.

He turns to Norzak. "Are you knowing Balok? I am thinking Benn, he is right."

After that, he responds to the tinkers in Balok. "You have the right of it, I'm afraid. I am called Dorgio." He briefly considers identifying himself as a son of the Vatraska line, but decides against it. If these travelers were anything like the ones he'd encountered in Gundarak, they'd hate him as much for his Gundarakite blood as much as the rest of the world feared his ties to these people. And that was not even considering those whose loyalty lay curled in The Devil Strahd's lap.

Continuing in Balok, he says, "Do I take from your meaning, then, that we find ourselves in Darkon itself?"

[steveflam]

"I dunno no Balok. Only Mordentish an me native Dwarf tongue, Dorgio."
Norzak spies Jon and what Jon is looking at and has a little smile to himself. Boys will be boys, I be thinkin'. Mebbe 'e'll make hisself a pal. Nuthin' wrong with that.

He gestures to Jon to come forward and join him and Dorgio. "Ay, laddie, come 'n' join us. It's safe an mebbe these peoples can help us figure out 'ow ta git home."

[Le Noir Faineant]

Cirdan will take his long Elven dagger - sheathed - out from his belt and give it to one of the youngsters, grinning broadly.

[ewancummins]

Inside the Moot-house-


The boy takes Cirdan's proffered dagger and returns the knight's smile with a broad grin of his own.

''I thank you!''

Several men standing nearby admire the knife as the boy draws it forth to have a look. One man expresses his approval in words, and the others seem to agree-

'''Tis a fine and generous gift.''


An admiring crowd gathers round the knight, composed of all ages and both sexes. Someone brings Cirdan a skin of mead and a wooden stool.
One of the men asks-

''You surely are neither of our folk nor of the tinkers' kin. You must ha' come from beyond the Great Forest. Will you not tell us of your wayfaring?''


While Cirdan is busy gaining the favor of the crowd, Benn speaks with the old man, Harrus. Now Alain has joined them and sits near Wat. Alain has just finished relating to Benn the story about the witch, when Harrus looks up from Benn's dirt-drawing and says-

''It was not a bear, a cat, or a wolf. This drawing looks like the bite of a weasel, only it is far too large to be from any natural animal of that kindred. There are giant weasels in some parts of the woods, but they aren't common. These creatures often suck the blood from their prey.....did his body contain much blood? ''

[ewancummins]

camp of the tinkers-


The tinker spokesman answers Dorgio, speaking in Balok.



''No, I would not say that you are in Darkon. You are in the Wood that Waits. This is no place for a man to be lost....only we are never lost. ''

The mustachioed tinker chuckles.

''You wish to obtain passage with us, I can see. Your dwarfish friend tells me- yes, I understand his Mordentish speech- that your party has already incurred the wrath of a powerful ghost and lost a member to some fell beast in the woods. Maybe you will bring misfortune with you on the road. It is not our custom to succour gorgios, for we have learned that those not of our true blood cannot be trusted. Perhaps you and your companions can buy passage, but our leaders must approve of it first. Are you the leader of your group, Dorgio? Or is it this squat one, Norzak Darkender? Surely not the fawning boy with the fire-hair.''

Again, the man chuckles, and this time some of his comrades join him in laughter.


Norzak's appearance doesn't phase these folks. They seem fairly calm in his presence , so long as his hands remain empty of weapons.

Jon's mystery girl retreats into the camp about the time Norzak begins speaking to Jon.

[JMaytr]

Jonathan watches the girl finish her dance. when she vanishes, he approaches Norzak cautiously, never taking his eyes away from the other tinkers.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Inside the Moot-house-


The boy takes Cirdan's proffered dagger and returns the knight's smile with a broad grin of his own.

''I thank you!''

Several men standing nearby admire the knife as the boy draws it forth to have a look. One man expresses his approval in words, and the others seem to agree-

'''Tis a fine and generous gift.''


An admiring crowd gathers round the knight, composed of all ages and both sexes. Someone brings Cirdan a skin of mead and a wooden stool.
One of the men asks-

''You surely are neither of our folk nor of the tinkers' kin. You must ha' come from beyond the Great Forest. Will you not tell us of your wayfaring?''
[/color]

The half-elf blushes and almost stumbles over one of the children, as tries to evade the peasants.

"I... I... Well, I am what is called 'a knight'. I serve the ruler of my land as a soldier, and I do good things. What good can I do for you?"

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio laughs with them, then takes out a cigarillo and lights it, then offers one to the tinker before him. "For the sake of my friends, then" he says in Mordentish, "I am continuing in a tongue we can all understand. What sort of realm is this, the Wood that Waits? And this witch, the bones of many children were in her keeping. Are you knowing what could have driven men to such acts? Fear of the witch?

"Either way, you are correct, we are seeking a way out from this place, though we are also searching for a man named Gaston van Deicks, a foul pimp, murderer, and if I am guessing correctly, more beast than man. Are you knowing anything of him, or what would be bringing him here?

"As for our leaders, we make our decisions as a group. Perhaps I can be gathering my friends, so we might speak with your leaders?"

The priest takes a long drag from the cigarillo, his first since the witch had brought the sickness on him. The smoke burned his lungs more than usual, but he had a feeling he'd need to be steadied when the tinkers named their price.

[ewancummins]

The camp of the gypsies

The tinker spokesman takes in all that Dorgio has said and mulls it over a bit before replying [in Mordentish],

''I am Miklos, and I am headman of this band. You must deal with me. You say you make decisions as a group? Fine, now you go and talk with your comrades. If your group votes to travel with us, you should return to our camp in the morning and then we may perhaps negotiate a price. ''


Miklos adds-

''I don't know of this Van Diecks fellow, but it may be that our raunie will tell you something of him in the morning. As for the Witch and the bones of children...you had better ask the raunie on the morrow. There is much she knows, and much besides she has ways of learning.''


With that, Miklos and the others turn about and fall back into their camp.

[ewancummins]

The half-elf blushes and almost stumbles over one of the children, as tries to evade the peasants.

"I... I... Well, I am what is called 'a knight'. I serve the ruler of my land as a soldier, and I do good things. What good can I do for you?"

Cirdan's words set off a great babble of excited conversation among the gathered folk-


''A knight! I had thought them to be legend...''

''Maybe he can lift the curse of the Wood? Then we can walk the trails at night without fear of the night-haunts and witchbrood. ''


''Aye, but to do that he'd have to be willing to enter the Witch Hold and clear it out....and what man can even set foot inside that place and come out whole and living yet, if ever he should come out?''


''True....and I warrant he'd have to face the Hellrider!''

[steveflam]

"Thanks Miklos. We be back ta see ya in the mornin, then. Pleased ta have made yer acquaintance. Lookin forward ta meet yer Raunie too." Nodding at the man he looks then to Dorgio and Jon.

"Awrighty then. We go mingle with them others an see what they think bout our meetin in the mornin. I think it's a good idea, personally."

[Adam]

Bennedict shakes his head dismissively. "No, the body did not appear to have been desanguinated. A torn out throat leads to some blood loss, yes, but most of the blood loss appeared to have been spread throughout the nearby ground rather than drained deliberately." He sighs. "Now that you mention it, in another time we may have seen one of the weasel-like creatures you were describing. You wouldn't have an image or description of them that I could see?"

He cocks his head somewhat at the exclamations from the crowd, arching a wry smile at the mention of how "no one has managed to leave the tower alive."

[steveflam]

Dorgio, Norzak and Jon head into the Moot-House to look for their friends. Spotting Benn and the others, Norzak heads for the former. He waits for Benn to be finished his conversation before inetervening and speaking.

[JMaytr]

Jonathan stays close to Norzak. Indeed the boy seems more skittish than usual. It is as if he is preoccupied, his mind wandering.

"I'm worried about those campers. Do you think they can protect us if whatever killed Buckman comes after us? I am afraid."

Jonathan looks around, embarrassment on his face, checking to see if Dorgio heard him.