A Stitch in Souragne - La Danse de Mort

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Zumba's precautions are wise and sensible. In a kind and just world, it would have sufficed to collect the gris-gris without suffering its effect.

...

This world is not always just and kind.

The instant the Capoeira's last word leaves his mouth, you can all feel power burn on the air, emanating from the chicken carcass. Your vision of the world goes dark in an instant, and in the darkness you see... an old man.

The old man is bent over by his years and leans on a staff festooned with the bones of countless small animals. His face is cleanshaven and his hair cut short but tangled and uncombed. Grey eyes bore into your very souls, gazing at you from behind a long, bent nose and downsloping eyebrows. Black robes are wrapped around his withered frame.
Despite his years and frailty, the apparition radiates strength and power. Dark power, somehow unnatural strength. But it is clear that he has been sorely taxed recently; his robes are tattered and stained, his face is haggard even for his age. The grim set of his jaw suggests he is holding himself upright mostly by force of will.

The old man speaks, his voice creaky but authoritative: Souragnien: "I am Chicken Bone. None of my calls have been answered. I am beset on all sides. I submit to the inevitable and cast this message out to the winds of chance. Come to me at Lac Noir. Help me escape these attackers, and one service will I do you free of charge, whoever you are. That is all."

The darkness fades in a painfully bright flash - a flash that burns a map onto your minds. You know where to go to find this old man. All you need to do is trek through the Souragnien swamp to get there... While you are still blinking away the last effects of the spell, the chicken carcass quietly crumbles into dust, threads, root and all.

[Ail]

"A message then, a clear one.

Lac noir it is... bad place, but we have to go there. Its name... noir... it doesn't just jave to do with colour."

His air is soturn, almost solemn. If he has all his gear with him, he's ready to go. If for some reason he has left some of it at the inn, it shouldn't be a long time to go there and fetch all his things back, so he would do it.


"Do we go at once, or should we check the Lamordian guy first?"

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien is struck silent for several moments by the bizarre events of the past minute. After Zumba speaks, he says with a calmness borne of fatigue, "'Go at once'? No, not in the dark and not in our current state. We need to rest if we're to be in any shape to help him -- he claims he is 'beset on all sides,' and that is not a situation to enter exhausted and in the dark.

"So to the Lamordian doctor it is. Vincent, I'm glad you're well. You missed our OWN bit of excitement, where Goren was attacked in his dreams -- a situation the three of you seem to be uncomfortably familiar with. Come, let's walk..."

Lucien then proceeds to describe the shadow creature in Goren's room, leaving the priest to describe the details of the dream itself.*

__________________________________
*Exposition dump.
Lucien is ready to head over to the doctor's residence, but we can continue chatting along the way.

[steveflam]

Souragnien "I fight L'Homme Broché in dream like I said already at lodging. We go see Doctor but is more important see Chicken Bone then Doctor. I sure Chicken Bone helped us with the undead crocodile monster. Crocodile not just come and eat Vincents foes for fun. And it spitted on mud chicken parts. Is part of gris gris, the chicken parts. I go with you to see doctor but we go see Chicken Bone after and I no take no for answer. If you no go, I go by myself! I is stubborn man person."

[Guzrath]

Yes, well, a sense of humour... too much of it can kill you, Vincent, and I think you should remember that more often.

"It's never the humor that gets me into trouble......." Vincent starts staying, but he doesn't finish his sentence as if not wanting to share something.

"I agree with Lucien that we should get a good nights rest before we head out on this spiritual quest as our little candle girl would do." he is silent for a moment. "It is the place the barman mentioned if I remember correctly, so I assume Lac Noir is this shaman's home".

Vincent listens to the story of Goren.
"Hmmm, those dreams again. I've only met a man in white in mine, you two" he points at Zumba and Goren "seem to have somehow more in your dreams, if these really are dreams of course. It might be a good idea to review the last dreams again. Now that we know more, there could be a hint we missed." he pauses.
"He said 'none of my calls have been answered'. What calls? And how would he if he is being besieged at his own home"

[Ail]

After Vincents' last words, Zumba recalls something from their earlier dreams.

"Goren said there was a woman in his dream wanting to be freed. There was also another woman voice in earlier dreams that seemed to go against the bad guys. Could it be Chicken Bone in disguise? Could it be the one who is asking us to be released? Gasp! Could it even be the Maiden herself? Imagine if the Loah are also trapped, and not just Chicken Bone! Or could that be the candle girl somehow? My head is spinning... talking about dreams that are reality makes it all seem possible."

[Ken of Ghastria]

"We hopefully will know some of those answers after we talk to Chicken Bone," says Lucien. He sighs. "I admit, I'm having a difficult time accepting that someone named 'Chicken Bone' is one of the most powerful people in this land. Let's be on our way. As long as we're already outside, I suggest going directly to the doctor. Any pressing need to return to the inn... well, aside from the fact that Vincent has bathed in muck?"

[Ail]

"We still don't know if anything happened to more people while they were sleeping. But on the other hand, if it HAS, then we should be well away from there when they find out."

[steveflam]

Souragnien "I want go Inn. But maybe visit Doctor good thoughts. So I say we miss Inn and go see the Doctor. We need to go see Man Chicken Bone. I am very sure he important to us and what happening in here in Souragne with no water and evil Master person leading our white robed enemy."

[Ail]

"Then we go to the doctor, and let's rouse him from his bed."

[Guzrath]

"I Agree about the doctor part, but I would like to make a quick visit to my room. I do not intend to walk in muck all day and I need to pick up some extra's." he says.

[Ail]

"then we should go all. Something tells me we may have an unwelcome reception there."

[Ken of Ghastria]

"I agree about the doctor part, but I would like to make a quick visit to my room. I do not intend to walk in muck all day and I need to pick up some extra's." he says.

"Yes, you look particularly vile," says Lucien, smirking. "Fine. To the inn for a few minutes, then to the doctor's." As they walk, he asks Vincent, "Why did you come to this area tonight?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Your detour to the Beached Alligator Inn goes smoothly; there are no screams of terror and pain, no one tries to accost you - although the barman does give you pleading looks when he is not staring at the common room with an expression of dread. The customers still have some light left, but the stubs clearly will not last the night. It might be another half hour before they absolutely must be replaced.

After the Inn, you wend your weary way according to the directions you received. The house belonging to the Lamordian Doctor is fairly easy to find; as the barman told you, it stands a little apart from the rest of the village, so there is no confusing it with its neighbours.

The house is a stout two-story construction of timber, raised a few inches above the ground to deter crawling vermin. A metal gate with very definite spikes surrounds it. A no-nonsense sign at the front gate proclaims this to be the residence of 'Doktor Vilhelm Auschluss, Scientist'. Various herbs, some medicinal, some completely unfamiliar, struggle to stay alive in the neat rows in which they were planted around the building. There is a faint tang on the air as you approach the house, a smell of chemicals. If the air were any cooler, you imagine the smell would be unnoticeable.

Even at this hour, someone appears to be awake inside, because there is a candle burning behind one of the ground floor windows. As you approach, you can see someone moving behind the lacey curtains, and soon enough the door opens. Standing in the door opening dressed in a thin, lacey dress, a lantern in one hand and a concerned expression on her face, is one of the most beautiful women you have ever seen. She has a great mass of red curls spilling down her back to her hips, an olive-coloured complexion and a ravishing, heart-shaped face. Her blue eyes shine like sapphires in that beautiful face. She is not tall, but she has the delightful shape of a woman in her prime; she pulls a shawl across her chest - a futile attempt to hide her form, if that is her intention - before addressing you. Or possibly it was her intent to hide the gris-gris she wears around her neck, with a metal symbol of the Maiden hanging at its lowest point.

"Is something the matter?" the pretty young woman asks in charmingly accented Mordentish. "You all look so... Do you need help? I can wake the Doctor up, if you need him to sew you up or mix you a medicine."

[steveflam]

Goren's jaw drops and he can only look at her. Then he gathers his wits and blushes furiously. His Mordentish being worst than his Souragnien, he attempts to speak to the red haired beauty anways. He does notice the gris gris but foregoes to mention it Mordentish "I ,,,,, we,,,,, come see Physician Doctor man. I uh... Goren, and mine friends is Vincent, Zumba and Lucien. Please excusing lateness we arriving here at abode. Wanting conversationalist with Physician Doctor. Is possibility?"