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Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls

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Korsarro shrugged "If you say so Aly" He turned to the giant waving forward "This way my good man, there should be a spare room or two out down this corridor. Korsarro guides the giant and the knight from room to room until they finally find one that is bare along its walls, he nods with approval and shows Arny in sweeping his arm out "Does it meet your approval?"

The room is spacious enough to allow the giant free movement, with a table at either end and two chairs at each. Korsarro grabs a passing guards attention and asks him to inform Wolfram that the room was now occupied for testing for the foreseeable future. He also asks him to bring them a willing test subject, if they weren't needed for the experiments, they could at least copy down notes or offer fresh insights.

Korsarro pulls one of the tables into the middle of the room. Considering the value of the relic to Arn, it would have to be somewhere it could be seen at all times from any corner of the room.
 
"Indeed it does, brother Korsarro," Arngeirr replies, "This shall do nicely."

The giant walks into the room as Korsarro moves the table in place. He sets the box down in the center and produces the giant hornet locked in amber once more. As he had done in the reliquary just this morning, Arngeirr touches the hornet to the lock on the front of the box; a soft click can be heard as the inner mechanisms of the box slide into place, and the hugeman slowly opens the lid. Everything is as it had been; a simple lining of red velvet, with two heavy sashes nestled within the box; one black, one gold, like the stripes of a hornet or a bee.

"Without anything from my father," Arngeirr says, half to himself and half to anyone that would listen, "It will be slow going. I am not wholly sure where to begin with these items. I am not even sure if I should remove them from the container..."

Arngeirr runs through everything he knows about the relic from his childhood. He knows that to damage it would be very dangerous, and that its destruction could unleash an unspeakable evil into the world. Thank the gods the fight between Vernasus and Valetni had not damaged the box and its contents, or this entire journey - and more importantly, his father's life - would have been in vain. But how much of that was the truth, he wondered, and how much of it was a father's way of keeping his son out of danger?

"I remember asking a wiseman once about the items," Arngeirr says, "after my father left on his journey. He did not know much on the subject. Everything was simply rumors and hearsay. He believed that these items were weapons of great power, and could turn a normal man into an engine of destruction. But beyond that, he could not tell me what they did precisely. Nevertheless, we must be cautious, and be sure we do not damage the items. I fear disaster could befall us if we allow the items to come to harm."
 
NPC
one of the guards decided to wake Blake up after the alchemist's *wake up call* and walked into the Apothecary's sleeping quarters and shook him a bit hard and said to him
"brother Blake, you need to wake up now" when Blake woke up the guard then stopped shaking him and said to him "you need check on Alchemist Valetni now, he was screaming a bit ago but it stopped after Sir Morr took care of him" and walked out of the room


Blake
responded to the guard shaking him awake with a groan, he then sat up and shook his head a bit to help snap himself out of his sleepy daze
(did i just sleep over a patient's screams? i thought that stopped few years after the siege of Arementhus...) he thought as he got dressed and when he got done and was at the doorway of the Patient room that held the alchemist now known to him as Valetni, he then thought (what happened back there it doesn't matter now Dev, what matters is that you have people who are going to want your help and medical expertise) Blake then shook his head again and then walked into the room to check up on the Alchemist
 
The gentle hum of his goddess's messengers put Al in a thoughtful mood. What was he really considering doing? Raising a demon right next to a place where many demonic items were held? Where innocents aplenty lived there lives? For the Beesiah's sake, there were women and children here! Could he in all good faith raise a demon while that girl Mary roamed these halls? -No. I swore long ago that this day would pass no matter what.- But still, the doubts tore through him.
 
Valetni opened his eyes.

He was floating, a small boat on a sea of pain. But the pain was outside, and he was safe an dry on the boat. Then the boat capsized.

And the screams began again.

But this time the screams were not the raw, primal scream of utter pain. This was the scream of a man in excruciating pain. A subtle difference, but an important one.
 
Korsarro nodded. Not taking a sample would make the research harder going. "Do you remember the wise-mans name at all? If we can track him down and get him back in here, he may have thought of us something." he looked to the relic, artifacts took many shapes, but he didn't think he'd seen a sash like that before. It certainly didn't have any of the usual demonic traits or aesthetics. He shrugged "We can try putting it on somebody, yourself if you're not comfortable allowing somebody else to handle it. That could give us some clues as to its effects." He bit his thumb, a habit he had acquired in his acolyte days when thinking on a subject.
 
The provisions were rich and Morr, in his hand a chalice of good wine, helmet bound to his belt, could see that none of the participants would go hungry. The host, a well-kept merchant, was mostly engaged in a conversation with others of his profession, the house itself was clean and some pieces of the furniture seemed to have their origins from distant lands, the building itself when he had approached it not exactly fitting for the more humble houses around it.

Morr felt... content. Yes. Content. It had been some time since he had been able to fully sate his hunger, his feet tired due to him having had to sell his horse along with his few other worldy possessions, aside from armor and sword that belonged to the order, on his atonement-pilgrimage, with which he still was not done, but he supposed he was able to put that temporarily on hold for the matters at hand. And, due to the host's continued generosity, he would be able to sleep in a bed today too...

But, there was still something wrong, something he wasn't quite able to put his finger on...

Taking another sip from his wine, Morr scanned his surroundings, the room, the participants-
The participants...
None of them were dirty, nor haggard, nor did any of them belong to the rioters to whom he had held his speech earlier, and he was quite good at remembering faces, his failure at the Pass where his recruits died had taught him this. No one here had actually fought against the oppression the guards had exerted.

Disturbed, he could only set down the chalice and stand up-

"Sir Morr, on behalf of my father, I'd like to speak my thanks for you to grace us with your presence." a brown-haired woman greeted him with a bow "My name is Angelika." she smiled, bowing again, a tone in her voice he was not quite able to understand.

Understanding that there was courtesy he had to repay, Morr bowed his own head in greetings "I must thank your father for his generosity, milady Angelika, also for his offer to let me sleep here." at that last part he thought he saw something lighten up in her eyes "But there is a matter I am in need of discussing with him, excuse me, please."

Making his way around her, her apparently puzzled by something on his person, Morr soon reached the host, who had just finished his earlier conversation "Sir, I must ask you-"

"Ah,-" the man turned to him, grinning "Sir Morr! I trust the food is sufficient for your needs?"

"That... it is, sir, but I mus-"

"Certainly you have already made aquaintance with my beautiful daughter," from the side, the woman in question appeared "Angelika, yes?"

"I... did indeed, sir, but I need to ask, where are the people that, that fought by my side, today, against the guards? Should they not receive the same generosity as " he gestured at his surroundings " anyone attending here?"

The man's smile grew a little thinner, it seemed "Ah, you needn't worry about that, sir Morr, they are currently preoccupied with... spreading the good news, ensuring that we will be ready tomorrow, to finally rid ourselves from the arrogant nobles, with your help, of course." looking at his bare face, the man remarked "Are you feeling sleepy? If so, I am ready to fulfill my offer of allowing you quarters here, after all you will need to be at your best in the morning and I am sure Angelika will be most delighted to lead you to your chambers."

This man's facial expressions... Morr was not able to properly recognize them, there was something about that grin...
But perhaps, he was indeed just tired. And certainly, he would need his strength tomorrow...
 
As Zato sat by Mary, he started to skim through old memories. Sounds, textures, smells.
His mind drifted back about thirteen years, to the end of a cool day....
He had taken a walk through the grounds and heard something off. Cautiously, he stepped forward, and felt a bundle of blankets, and in the middle, a baby.
"Hello?" He said to it, and was met by a soft coo.
"Well hello there!" he said, with a growing smile.
"Let's get you inside, dearie, it's going to rain soon..." he said, carrying the bundle away.
 
"Aye lad," Arngeirr said, "I remember the wiseman fondly. His name was Balder Sigurorson, an old gentleman from my village."

The hugeman pondered Korsarro's suggestion. "I believe, however, that Balder told me all he knew. And the Hugelands are far away from here. A journey from our home is perilous, as I told you all before. Balder would be risking his life to leave his home, especially at his age. I fear he would die before he ever reached the Forbidden Temple."

"I fear," he continues, "That the only course of action would be to see what these sashes do when one is exposed to them. As a gentleman, I should rightly volunteer for such a huge task. And as my father's son, it would be wrong of me to allow any other to take on this huge risk."
 
He wasn't even in the doorway when Valetni started screaming again, Blake then rushed to the Alchemist side while grabbing one of the bottles of Cherub's Tears off the table next to Valetni's side of the bed.
as he got to the alchemist, Blake popped cork off the bottle and attempted to get Valetni to sit up to drink the numbing substance to help him not be in pain
 
She stirred again, her chest didn't hurt now, well not as much, it only ached a little...

"M-Mister Zato?"

she inquired

"C-Can we go somewhere else? i-it smells funny in here..."

then the screaming started again

"I-I really w-want to g-go somewhere else, p-please" her scared voice choking back tears.

her small hand once again grabbing at a palmful of his habit.
 
Zato heard the screaming down the hall, and said,
"Yes, of course." He helped her off the bed, and they set off for somewhere quieter.
 
Back muscles screaming in pain, Valetni had only a second to analyze the situation before a bottle was shoved in his mouth. Fighting his reaction to jerk away, Valetni twitchily moved his arms to take the bottle in hand, the sleeves rolling back to reveal mottled, almost continuous bruising up and down them. Tilting his head back to allow as much of the Tears to flow down his throat as possible. Finally, the vessel emptied, he slumps back down onto the bed. Still in considerable, but now manageable amounts of pain.

"Th-thank." He manages to gasp out as he stares at the ceiling, now quiet.
 
Again the screams, the rapid rising, sword drawn in an automatic contraction of his hand and arm, Morr awoke. To his side, Mary and Zato were also waking up.

Inspecting the source of the screaming, Morr saw brother Blake already hard at work. Deciding he would simply be an obstacle, he quietly left the room. Mary and Zato were obviousely planning to leave the hospice, a notion he shared, having enough of the nightmares for now. However, no matter how much he may have wished it, there was no other apparent duty than...

"Milady Mary, brother Zato, may I please request that I escort you to your destination?" his tone hollow, just now remembering to sheathe his sword again.
 
She flinched as the man's hand touched her shoulder, repressing a cough in her throat as she looked up at the Knight

"I-I'd like to go outside."
 
"looks like the problem is under control for now" Blake said to himself as took the empty bottle and set it on the desk. He then stood up from the side of the bed and poked his head out of the room and said to the three people in the hall "i got the problem under control for now but could you send someone to the storage room and find me some stronger Pain killing Potions?" and then added "because Cherub's Tears is not strong enough for this amount of pain" and then went back into the room, grabbed a chair and sat down to watch over Valetni
 
"The outside it is then, milady." forcibly avoiding to look at Zato's grandfatherly hand on her shoulder as an attempt to grant her calmness, Morr gestured to the exit "You know the way better than I once again, milady, lead the way if you so wish."
 
Mary reaches out to take the knight's hand which is hanging by his side, still holding a clump of Zato's habit she begins to lead the pair through a large door and into the afternoon sunlight...
 
After a short walk, Zato felt a rush of warm, fresh air, and sunlight on his skin.
"Are you starting to feel better now, Mary?" he asked.
 
"Y-yes, it almost doesn't hurt any more, and my eyes have stopped stinging..."

She slowly turns around and looks up at the blind monk with her medium sized eyes,

"M-Mister Zato, I'm glad your arm got better..."
 
The beast beneath the hastily-erected tent in the gardens did not remain still for long. After a scant few minutes of sleep he had already begun to stir; an occasional twitch of his head, or a tearing at the ground with his talons, or a kick of a hind leg. Even his bound wings shuttered within their strappings. Gradually these movements grew more pronounced, and though the midday sun spooled down around his shelter, there was no telling what shadowed thoughts the demon-tainted could have. In the murky fog of dreams, was he merely hunting? Flying? Or was he rending the flesh of fleeing men, crushing the life from their children and livestock?
 
Allowing himself to be led by the girl, ignoring the need to take his hand away, on the way asking one of the passing serfs to provide for stronger pain-killers to be sent to brother Blake in the hospice, Morr soon found himself at the entrance to the garden of the temple, it seems, where... bee hives resided. Obvious, the temple's chosen deity was that of a ruler of bees.

"I fear I simply am forced to ask, but, perhaps you would be ready to tell me what occurred while I was incapacitated?"
 
"There was an incident in the library. A few people were poisoned, including Mary here" Zato explained solemnly.
"I fear Valetni is still in the infirmary, but Vernasus and Mary here have recovered."
 
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