Mists over the Musarde, Chapter Four

[ewancummins]

the cabin


Benn sees no obvious signs of an intruder. The door simply hangs open, swinging very slowly in the breeze, creaking on its ancient hinges.

It would appear that only Benn and Alain are present, here in the back room of the cabin. Benn hasn't yet searched the larger front room with the hearth, or the root cellar [which is where Wat keeps his perishables, and also where the body of Gaston Van Diecks had been taken last night, by Cirdan].

[JMaytr]

Jonathan nods to Dorgio and gets closer to him.

"Yes, striking in force may be our best bet, but we must arm ourselves with knowledge. If this rider is some sort of undead, we must learn what we are dealing with or no amount of force we bring will be enough."

Then after a long moment of silence, Jonathan speaks again.

"This creature that lives within me has to be stopped Dorgio. I have to find a cure for this thing I am becoming. If no cure can be found I fear I shall have to end my own life."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

"Yes, striking in force may be our best bet, but we must arm ourselves with knowledge. If this rider is some sort of undead, we must learn what we are dealing with or no amount of force we bring will be enough."

Dorgio nods in approval. "I may be having years on you, but you are no stranger to the hunt, that is clear. Yes, we will be gathering as much information as possible, so long as we can keep our skins in the process."

"This creature that lives within me has to be stopped Dorgio. I have to find a cure for this thing I am becoming. If no cure can be found I fear I shall have to end my own life."

Dorgio frowns at that. "You may be thinking me a hard man, or one who cannot be trusted, but we are searching for a cure, Benn and I. It is an edict of the Morninglord that mercy must be shown to those who have been infected with shape-sickness. The Morninglord, he loves freedom, and there is nothing that is robbing a man of choice so much as the inability to control one's very body. Be resting assured, we will find someone who can help you. And I know you are not trusting the raunie, but perhaps she can help you when she returns." He shrugs, "we shall see, perhaps I can bargain with my heritage."

After speaking his piece, he slowly approaches the depression, prodding at the weeds with the tip of his spear, looking for anything unusual.

[ewancummins]

in the woods with Dorgio, Jon, and the Shadow

Dorgio's spear strikes something in the weeds- not a hard object, but not soft like the plants, either. Closer inspection reveals it to be a fist-sized lump of charred wood.


Norzak's shadow creeps into the treeline, disappearing amidst the patterns of light and shade strained through the branches overhead.

[Adam]

Bennedict stands up, brushing his clothing out straight. "I see no one, Alain. Wait here, though, and I'll check the rest of the building."

He mutters to himself about the overly alarmed state his companions typically find themselves in as he heads towards Wat's front room.

[ewancummins]

Bennedict stands up, brushing his clothing out straight. "I see no one, Alain. Wait here, though, and I'll check the rest of the building."

He mutters to himself about the overly alarmed state his companions typically find themselves in as he heads towards Wat's front room.

Benn finds nothing unusual or out-of-place in the front room. Of course, he immediately notes the absence of the others.

There's no intruder here. Only the cellar remains to be checked...

[ewancummins]

Second set of hunters[ Cirdan, Wat, and Norzak]

You all hear it: bestial grunting from someplace beyond a line of shrubs, accompanied by the noise of branches snapping.

Wat motions for Nozrak and Cirdan to be silent and to lie down.

Wat slowly moves into the prone. He inches forward across the dey grass, towards a space between two dogwood plants. He points at something past the dogwoods. There, through the greenery, you can all see it: a very big bristly boar is drinking from the stream, not twenty yards from your position. The pig is so large that he could be fairly compared to a riding horse. His tushes are as long as daggers. Your current position is downwind of him- at least until the wind shifts, at any rate...

[Adam]

"There is no one here, either," he says, turning back towards Alain. However, a thought occurs to him, and he carefully picks up his crossbow.

Clearly I've been doing this too long, he thinks to himself if the first thing that occurs to me when there is a strange noise is "I wonder if the dead wererat in the basement is moving around."

He snorts at himself in derision, but takes the crossbow with him anyways as he goes to check the cellar.

[ewancummins]

"There is no one here, either," he says, turning back towards Alain. However, a thought occurs to him, and he carefully picks up his crossbow.

Clearly I've been doing this too long, he thinks to himself if the first thing that occurs to me when there is a strange noise is "I wonder if the dead wererat in the basement is moving around."

He snorts at himself in derision, but takes the crossbow with him anyways as he goes to check the cellar.

The root cellar is dark, so Ben must bring a light of some sort.

Down here, the air is cool and dry. There's a faint smell of blood and carrion, mixed with the more pleasant earthy aroma of potatoes and other vegetables.

Looking about, once he has a light by which to see, Benn quickly realizes that something big is missing from the cellar:the corpse of Gaston Van Diecks is nowhere to be seen. A search of the cellar reveals nothing; no clues, no prints, no drag marks...nothing. The body seems to have simply vanished, along with the tapestry scrap that had served as a shroud.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

With the tip of his spear, Dorgio tries to nudge the lump of charcoal away from the depression, so that he can get a better look at it.

[ewancummins]

With the tip of his spear, Dorgio tries to nudge the lump of charcoal away from the depression, so that he can get a better look at it.

The task proves easy enough- in a minute or so, Dorgio has moved the chunk of charcoal away from the depression. It has crumbled a bit in the process of being moved, but not much. A closer examination reveals traces of old axe cuts on the wood.

Looking about the area, your group may discover similiar lumps of charcoal, some of which appear to have been broken down by the elements until these coals have begun to merge with the black soil in and around the depression.

[steveflam]

Second set of hunters.......

Norzak moves as queitly as he can, finding some concealment. Now thrity feet away, he removes his crossbow silently, loading it and taking aim at the boar. He won't shoot until Wats does something, as he has never hunted before and will follow the mans lead.

[ewancummins]

Wat slowly raises a hand, look at Norzak, and mouths:

NOW!

Wat then drops his hand and knocks an arrow on his short bow.

Cirdan tenses up, gripping the boar spear with both hands as he rises from the ground to crouch behind the bushes.

[ewancummins]

Norzak lets fly, and his bolt strikes the boar in it's left [facing] haunch. The animal lets forth with a mighty squealing battle cry, and turns about to face its enemies- moving with surprising speed and agility!

Cirdan stands up, screaming something unintelligible at the HUGE pig, and bracing his spear to receive a charge. Wat sprints to a tree, using the bole for cover, and fires an arrow at the gigantic boar, striking it in its right flank, an attack that has no apparent effect on the beast- which even now is bearing down on the knight in a thunderous, ground-ripping charge!

SLAM!

The boar takes Cirdan head on, knocking him backward ten feet or more. His spear wounded the beast, but he hasn't pinned it. It snorts and squeals very loudly as it presses its attack on Cirdan!

Wat fires another arrow as Norzak either reloads or switches weapons [or...?]. Cirdan desperately thrusts with the spear, ignoring his own injuries [Norzak will see that the knight is bleeding from his belly where a tusk must have ripped him.] Wat's second arrow is better placed than his first, striking the boar behind an ear- but even this cannot stop the enraged beast!

[Adam]

Bennedict groans, unleashing a vile curse in Lamordian as he walks further into the cellar to look around for any sign of who or what moved the dead pimp.

"ALAIN!" he calls out. "Someone was here after all. Be on your guard! Shout if you hear anything!"