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Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls

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Arngeirr favors the small lass and even smaller gentleman with a friendly smile before a truly huge rumble like rolling thunderheads tears itself from his huge belly. "Good heavens!" he exclaims, "I do hope master Wolfram does not hear this ruckus!"

He shakes his head, fixing his mustache as he does, and looks back down at Alyssa. "And I should say, simply call me Arngeirr. I am a simple hugeman, surely not a man deserving the title of Sir, though I shall certainly take it as a huge compliment. At your discretion, m'lady, lead the way."
 
Brother Vernasus goes quiet, his face melting into a look of submission as his angered breathing begins to slow in the face of such contained composure.

"....Very well, Master Wolfram. I shall go off and have this mysterious ailment looked at. But so help me, with the beesiah as my witness... when I find that little robed fool of a monk, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

With that, Vernasus picks up the cloth sheet, hastily wrapping it around his body in order to cover as much of his dignity as still remains, before marching off in the direction of the hospice. His anger returns all too suddenly though, as he finds the hospice empty, save for the old knight resting his wounds.

"Where... is.... Devlin?" Vernasus asks through gritted teeth, desperately attempting to contain his rage.
 
Mary walks into the hospice, only to find Brother Vernasus standing talking to Morr.

"Mister Vern?" she asks looking up into the Beekeepers eyes.

her head tilts to one side slightly as if in thought

"Why're you red?"
 
Beholding the man whom he recalled was named Vernasus, Morr answered the enraged man's question: " I asked for Devlin to request for Mary to come see me, I am sorry, but I do not know where he went."

It was then that- the girl entered.
 
Alyssa visibly stiffened in surprise at the loud growling that came from Arngeirr. There were few beasts and demons she had met that could outdo such a note. Recovering from the moment she gave him a confirmatory nod and led him through the hallways. Delightfully the people in the way parted like water around a rock. There was definitely some perks to behind so huge, maybe not so much to off balance whacking ones head into door frames though.

Briefly she noticed Brother Al wandering as if searching for something. She tried to give him a wave but he seemed intent on his search. Pressing on they reached the kitchen without any hiccups only to find Korsarro already waiting unsurprisingly. Upon seeing the tanner there and waiting Alyssa gave an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about the wait, decided to take my time and catch up on the sights and sounds you know.”

She gave a cursory sniff of the air.

“I forgot how good it is to have a proper meal with a roof over my head.”
 
"I say old bea-" Arngeirr's huge stomach once again made its presence known, and in shame he slapped his huge meaty fists against his guts. "I say scoundrel, do not use such harsh language in front of lady Alyssa and brother Korsarro!"

He clears his throat, doing his best to move past his gastronomic outburst, for his stomach was certainly huge. "Now then, honored Korsarro and lady Alyssa, let us procede to venerable Zato so that we may see our tasks through!"
 
Down he went, further and further, until the stairs finally merged into the flat floor. Walking along, torch at the ready, Valetni made his way slowly through the crypts, pausing as he usually did to read names, and to trace his fingers upon the visages of those long dead. Finally, he arrived at his destination, seating his burning torch into an empty holder.

"Alas, poor Brother Malfeas! I knew him well. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent virtue, though a bit too fond of his pipe if you ask me." Valneti remarks to no one in particular as he uses the pry bar to crack open seal. A wave of rot and stench of flesh roiled forth, causing him to take a step back, coughing. Maneuvering the nearby wheelbarrow, he carefully lifted the poor, departed brother and placed him within.

"Well Brother Malfeas, you'll have one more chance to be useful for the monastery." With that he began pushing the wheelbarrow back towards his lair, taking a different route this time. He liked to visit all the inhabitants, see how they were doing, if they needed anything he could get them. They rarely spoke back.



As was his habit, he stopped at a single particular casket, allowing the wheelbarrow to settle down as he walked over, and as he always did, slowly traced the lettering and mouthing the words as he did so, he swallowed down the lump that grew in his throat as he said that familiar name."Valerie...". He stood there for many moments, hand on the lettering, unable to move. If he closed his eyes he might be able to see a flash of her face out of the corner of his eye, and if he listened hard enough he would hear a strain of her laughter, if only. A single tear rolled down his cheek, dropping to the roughly hewed stone. Twenty eight years ago, the anniversary was coming up soon, maybe this year he would be able to give her the gift he had labored for for so long. "Soon, my dear, soon." he choked out in a whisper, as he stood there in silence, and wept.
 
Brother Vernasus instantly forgets his predicament, his face turning to a smile as soon as he hears marys voice. Even in the middle of all this nerve racking pain and bottled up rage, the child still manages to melt his heart. He reminds himself to thank the Beesiah once more tonight at prayers, for bringing such a wonderful child into his life.

"I'm... I'm just feeling a bit under the weather, little one"

Quickly tiring of the ineptitude of others, Vernasus grabs a jar of healing balm from one of the many shelves of ointments and unguents, before picking up some spare clean rags and marching back to his quarters.
 
Korsarro shakes his head slowly "You should be, you know how I get around the shinies!" He frowns but is unable to hold it at the tought of finally being allowed to examine an artifact and grins, he looks to the giant and then back to Alyssa, his gaze jumping back and forth as he speaks "I'm warning you both now, hangovers are abound and I don't know how long the mead will hold it back." He nodded quickly, realising at once that this was a bad idea he stopped, scrunched up his face and ran into the kitchen "Zato! Mead is needed! For both drinking and possibly bathing..." he looked throughout the kitchen, finding no blind monks here. Suddenly. It came to him and he burst out laughing, quieting it quickly by bringing his hand to his mouth. He convulses slightly "Snrrrk, I get it now! He's blind! And we need his watchful gaze!" He steadies himself on one of the kitchen counters and breathes deep, calming himself. No blind monk. No shiny. Must find blind. He adresses the giant and the guard "He's not in there anymore..." He looks around "He should be here. Though a blind man in the kitchen is somewhat distressing..." Korsarro pouts "No shinies for Kor."
 
"...huh...?" Mary says to herself,

"Mister Morr? you wanted me?" the small girl seems confused
 
Zato heard someone speak his name; the kitchen was only the next room over from the dining hall.
"Did someone call me?" he asked, walking in with the patter of his cane.
 
Al was quite mystified; this place was quite confusingly large! He would make a habit of getting lost soon if he wasn't careful. It takes him a moment to realize that he'd passed within the vicinity of people. A fleeting glimpse of familiar hugeness, as well as a woman he did not know waving at him. Hoping they could lead him to Wolfram, he does an about face and hurries after them.
 
“I can quite honestly say I am glad I have not had to face many things with a magnitude of presence such as yours, Arngeirr. Not entirely certain I would make it out of those scraps intact anymore.”

Following much more quietly in Korsarro's wake she looked around the kitchen and confirmed for herself what Kor was saying. Zato was missing in action. Given the size of the monastery it could take some time to find him as well, they might just be better off finding another monk entirely.

Such notions were broken when a familiar cane came thumping in.

Alyssa went to say something, a greeting, a smart remark at Kor or just a compliment on the smell of the stew. Save that one of Zato's sleeves was alarmingly limp. The way the cloth moved indicated there wasn't anything under there and if Zato had lost an arm but had yet to amend his clothing it likely happened recently. She had seen some good men and women rendered crippled from injuries like that and worse, but thankfully Zato didn't seem to have let it stop him. Still, it seemed like an awkward thing to bring up at the moment.
 
Eyeing the girl warily, again with that nagging self-loathing, Morr answered, the voice impassive, precise, mechanical "I did indeed, child."

Sitting up, carefully as not to move his upper body too much, Morr rose from the bed. Grabbing his blade, he unseated himself, coming to stand on his feet.

Slowly, he began to walk towards the girl, every step forced, drawing the sword out of its scabbard, ramming it into the stone-floor before her, he knelt, head bowed "I had been lax in my duty to you, Ma- milady, surrendered to my cowardish fear and left you in the care of a man I did not even know to the slightest extent, any matter of circumstance could not have justified this, and any matter of malevolent action he could have acted upon you should have been my fault alone. For this, I must beg you for either forgiveness or punishment- milady, and your unharmed presence does not free me of this responsibility." forcing himself to look up at her directly, Morr asked "What shall be your verdict?"
 
Brother Vernasus wanders into the dining hall donned in clean brown rags. His skin has begun to return to it's normal hue, having eased it with the balm moments before. He reminds himself to thank Devlin for such fast acting medicinal remedies.

He sits himself down at an empty table, before quickly noticing the severe lack of mead.

"This will not do..." He mumbles quietly to himself, before making his way into the kitchen.
 
Mary looks puzzled at Morrs words and stance,

she reaches up and takes a hold of his index finger with her hands.

""What'dyou mean Mister Morr? You went to look after Mister Zato while Mister Arny helped me find the Quacks"

She tugs at the mans finger again, pulling it off of his sword,

"you don't need to apologise, like Mr Zato says 'Don't worry it wasn't your fault'" she smiles at the man,

"You need to have your breakfast Mister Morr, otherwise you won't grow"

she tugs at the man's finger again
 
At her mention of food, Morr was capable of hearing his stomach tremble, having not eaten since yesterday in the morn. Keeping his view frozen on her for several moments, Morr carefully stood up, balancing himself upon his sword, "Very well then, milady, the matter shall be delayed until you come to a decision."

Walking back to his bed for forced rest, Morr laid himself down, before asking the child "If you would be so kind, please arrange for someone to bring me provision, I fear my body is in need of it." sighing, he again could no longer stand to look at her.
 
Korsarros pout dissapears as Zato walks in, he quickly realises that he is still holding the arm missing from the blind monk who stands before him, he tries not to giggle at this and clears his throat again "Zato, Alyssa is back!" He looks to her, noticing the staring she was doing at Zatos half-empty sleeve, he pokes her arm and points to the arm in his hand, raising it into full view and shaking his head with a dire face. He turns to the armoured monk, frowning slightly "My name isn't Tanner, all that armour is stopping any learning getting into your head." Korsarro grins anyway "It is good to see you again, I worried we'd lost you in the halls of this place."
 
"Ok Mister Morr, I'll get Mister Zato to find someone to bri-"

she cuts off mid word as she see's the unconscious body of Leonard behind Morr

"M-M-Mister Rattles?"

she rushes over to the large man's body and pulls at his bandaged hand

"Mister Rattles what's wrong"

she pulls at it again and begins trembling

"W-Why won't you wake up Mr Rattles" tears begin to form at her eyes

She turns around still holding the unconscious man's hand

"Make him wake up Mister Morr, d-don't let him stay like this..."

tears begin to run down her face

"N-n-n-ot like Mister Malfeas please..." the tears now flowing freely down her face

she notices the blood stains on his bandages

"He's hurted Mister Morr, please help him, please."

she squeezes the unconscious man's hand with her little fingers...
 
"My apologies Korsarro, I did not mean to offend. It is just easier than pronouncing your name. Such syllables and consonants in concert are a might difficult for me to conjure. But I shall persevere." As he speaks, he wonders why the tanner is still carrying around Zato's severed limb.
 
"Well met, little lass," Arngeirr says. "A huge man such as I can be a huge problem if he is not careful. A dreadful day indeed when a renegade hugeman becomes an ungentlemanly scoundrel! Certainly no lovable rogue is he."

"I say lads," Arngeirr exclaims as he see the monks gathering around, "It seems we all had the same idea! Gentlemen think alike, I always say. Hail brave brother Al! And good morning venerable Zato! It seems we have all come to seek your help at the same time. Dreadfully sorry old chum, I had hoped to divert the workload from master Wolfram, whom I had assumed would be quite busy this morning, but it seems all we've done is make another mess!"

The huge gentleman quickly clamps his hands over his belly as it demands his - and everyone else's - attention. "I say, this simply shall not do!
 
"Ah, Alyssa! Good to see you home, dearie!" Zato exclaimed.
"Is there something I can help you with? I just made breakfast a half hour ago"
 
Brother Vernasus says his hellos as he makes his way through the kitchen.

"Morning all. I hope you slept well Arngeirr. I know our beds are hardly satisfactory for a man as huge as yourself."

"Alyssa, it's good to see you have returned unharmed. I apologize for my earlier rudeness, I was a tad... preoccupied."

"Zato... any chance of some ale? I could really do with a stiff drink."

Vernasus notices the severed arm in Korsarros hand, and shoots him a disapproving look.

Brother Korsarro... I thought we already talked about this.
 
Korsarro shrugs "Don't worry about it Armoured Monk, as long as you know it then I'm sure I can forgive a Brothers difficulty, after all, being the only Tanner it's not like confusion is an issue." He nods at his own words, helping himself to the nearest source of alcohol he can find, grabbing a tankard of mead from the table and taking several gulps. This damnable hangover will not beat me until I have at least bathed. He looks to Vernasus, nodding quickly "We did, I had a detour on my way to the Tannery and was bringing it back to... well... Tan it? But I ended up guiding Alyssa and the Giant here, I haven't been back to the Tannery since I returned!" he says with dissapointment he hides the arm behind him, not allowing it to be in grabbing distance of Brother Vernasus, he takes another gulp. "But nevermind that, where the hell are your clothes?"
 
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