Realms of Dread, Chapter Four

[kintire]

With the fire suppressed, Shana walks over to the mysterious corpse and examines it closely. She then heads over to Darmond and Ironheart, her tears now fading, to be replaced by a barely controlled rage.

"Are you alright?"

[ewancummins]

Dawnbringer Harmond replies, first to Ironheart and then to Shana-

''Yes, I destroyed many of the enemy- but not enough to save my brothers.''

''No, no I am not alright. Most of the people that I love in this life are dead, and I could do nothing to save them. If I find those responsible....I shudder at what I might do. Lathander preserve me from the dark road!''

[Ken of Ghastria]

Blaise leans against a wall, fatigued from expending so much arcane energy. He says to Inovidil, "That was tiring... Has anyone seen Alain since the fire's been out? We need to talk to him. Some suspicions are becoming fact."

He sees Rask with a group of others, including the priestess of Waukeen. "Come with me a moment," he says to Ino. "Not just because it could be interesting, but because I may collapse at any moment and need support."

He walks over to the lovely cleric and says, "Good morning, Mistress Gyrglass ... well, 'good' seems woefully out of place on this gloomy morn. You may remember me...? Blaise Redman -- I was with you and Watch-Captain Rask during the examination of Delthrin's body. May I introduce my friend, Inovidil."

He looks around at the devastation before continuing, somewhat awkwardly, "Will you be able to perform a, uh, similar ritual on any of the Lathander clerics? We need to know as much as possible."

[kintire]

Shana nods soberly.

"Righteous anger is exactly what we need... but I know exactly what you mean about the dark road. Can you speak with the fallen at the moment? there is a corpse of one of the attackers over here..."

[ewancummins]

Shana nods soberly.

"Righteous anger is exactly what we need... but I know exactly what you mean about the dark road. Can you speak with the fallen at the moment? there is a corpse of one of the attackers over here..."

''Yes, yes I can. I had prepared just such a spell in case I your suspect had been killed in the process of her arrest. It will be useful now. ''

Without delay, Dawnbringer Harmond goes to the dead man in the mask. He looks down at the dead man and nods.

''Yes, this man was one of the attackers. That mask, it is the same.''

Looking about, he finds one of the uniformed militiamen and asks-

''Go and find Watch -Captain Rask and his men. This is very important business. I will be using magic to divine something about the attack, and I will do it in a closed room. Rask will want to be there, and so will his investigators. Do you understand? ''

The tin-star gives an affirmative grunt and jogs off to search for Rask and the others.

[ewancummins]

Blaise leans against a wall, fatigued from expending so much arcane energy. He says to Inovidil, "That was tiring... Has anyone seen Alain since the fire's been out? We need to talk to him. Some suspicions are becoming fact."

He sees Rask with a group of others, including the priestess of Waukeen. "Come with me a moment," he says to Ino. "Not just because it could be interesting, but because I may collapse at any moment and need support."

He walks over to the lovely cleric and says, "Good morning, Mistress Gyrglass ... well, 'good' seems woefully out of place on this gloomy morn. You may remember me...? Blaise Redman -- I was with you and Watch-Captain Rask during the examination of Delthrin's body. May I introduce my friend, Inovidil."

He looks around at the devastation before continuing, somewhat awkwardly, "Will you be able to perform a, uh, similar ritual on any of the Lathander clerics? We need to know as much as possible."

Nissa smiles.

''Ah, yes, Blaise Redman. Of course I remember you.''

To Ino-

''I am pleased to see that you are well. ''
In answer to Blaise's question about the necromantic ritual-

''Yes, I can do that- but not now. I will need to rest for several hours first, and then prepare the ritual. I was not forewarned that I would be awake at this early hour, much less dealing with something like this awful disaster.''


It is still quite dark out, although dawn must surely be only an hour distant. The lingering veil of smoke has mixed with the creeping sea-fog to create a condition of deeper than ordinary darkness in the area about Morningmist Hall.
Rescuers work by lantern light, and even then , must proceed slowly, lest they trip on a loose cobble- or an unclaimed corpse.

[BigBadQDaddy]

After doing all he could to help the wounded, Alain surveys the remains of the devastation all around him. Despite the horror of it all, he felt a flickering sense of pride deep inside at seeing all of his friends come together in the face of adversity. Perhaps his fears of the group destroying itself were unfounded. He would have to continue to watch. Though he briefly wondered were Breana was during all this. Perhaps she had arrived to lend aid but was consumed by the fire like the majority of people at the scene. Perhaps she had found a lead to follow up on of her own.

Off in the distance Alain could see Rask speaking with Jamethon and Threan. Rask was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. No doubt he would want to know what had taken place and in all honesty Alain hadn't a clue. With all the madness that had taken place recently he had enough trouble keeping his head from spinning itself off of his shoulders.

He found that he had been staring at his feet for several moments and snapped out of his hypnotic state of self pity. Shaking his head from side to side to clear his thoughts, he began walking towards Rask.

[ewancummins]

Rask waves to Alain.

''Alain, my boy, Sergeant Moorkroft has given me an initial report. I'll want a formal report from you in writing, of course- but that can wait. You look as if you are holding up well, and based on what I have heard, some note of congratulation is in order before we proceed- your team performed admirably well.''

Jamethon gives his friend Alain a grim little smile and says-

''I hope you don't mind that I gave a preliminary report on your behalf. I thought you'd want to save time. ''

[BigBadQDaddy]

Puzzled, Alain simply says, "Thanks." to Jamethon.

Considering how he felt, he could not understand how he looked like he was 'holding up well'. He looked to Rask, not wanting to ruin what he was sure felt like a victory for the city watch for the Captain, he kept his feelings in check.

"I will have a report ready for you by then...Sir." He responds with a forced smile. He had the feeling as though someone had earned a victory this evening, though he strongly felt it was not the watch.

[ewancummins]

A tin star in a green jerkin approaches Rask, salutes, and says-

''Sir, Dawnbringer Harmond says that he's about to perform some kind of magic ritual to learn about what happened tonight, meaning the attack and the fire and all. Uh, he wants you and the special team, sir. Said it was real important business!''


Rask dismisses the tin-star with a simple-

''Good job, carry on.''

Turning to Alain, Threan, Jamethon and Glim, the watch-captain says-

''We had best not keep the Dawnbringer waiting. Maybe he'll be able to give us something useful.''

[BigBadQDaddy]

Alain nods in agreement, offering to lead the group to where he had last seen the Dawnbringer.

[ewancummins]

Alain nods in agreement, offering to lead the group to where he had last seen the Dawnbringer.

Once the entire group is assembled[even Nissa Gyrglass, the Waukeenar , comes along when Rask invites her] , Dawnbringer Harmond announces-

''I will use a ritual to examine the latent memories, in a manner of speaking, of this dead man-''
He motions towards a sooty corpse that wears a black mask of leather and cloth.

'' He was one of the attackers- they wore such masks, the living ones, that is. Someone stabbed him in the back, and it seems that he was left in the fire while yet living. ''

Waving a hand towards a building across the canal-

''We can use the backroom of that public house- it is good for our purposes. I will be able to ask only four questions. The first two are obvious: who are you and who stabbed you in the back and left you to die- but you must think of another two questions for him.''

[BigBadQDaddy]

Alain answers, "Perhaps who led the group? or who organized the attack? Of course, those would be conditional question assuming this man isn't one of your own disguised to look like one of the men responsible..." He runs his fingers through his hair, mumbling, "hmph, paranoid ramblings again.
" Um, any one else have any suggested query's?"

[ewancummins]

Alain answers, "Perhaps who led the group? or who organized the attack? Of course, those would be conditional question assuming this man isn't one of your own disguised to look like one of the men responsible..." He runs his fingers through his hair, mumbling, "hmph, paranoid ramblings again.
" Um, any one else have any suggested query's?"

As the party walks across the footbridge to the pub, Jamethon answers Alain by saying

''Why don't we see what the answers are to the first two, and then use our best judgment to decide the last two?''

[BigBadQDaddy]

"That sounds like a great idea. Dawnbringer, how long will the ritual last? Will we have time to adjust our questions?"