Related Information to Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread - Page 37

Corren rides alongside the wagon once they are back on the road, keeping his thoughts to himself, as the others are. In comparison to the last time they returned to town, the citizens of Clear Creek are somber, having been warned of the impending return of quite a few victims. Corren recalls his brief conversation with Alena and wonders if she dropped a word into a few ears, in the hopes that people would show more control. One or two of the townsfolk give Corren a nod of acknowledgement, which he returns with a grim look. He is impressed with the crowd's self-control. Very few tears, and no wailing.

Once they arrive in the churchyard, he dismounts and begins to help unload the grisly cargo. As before, they separate the victims by race and age. As there are still unidentified remains, he is hoping the people in the crowd can help the priest determine who they might be.

By this time it is getting dark, and Corren is tired, both in body and spirit. He says to the members of his team, "I'm going to get dinner, then some sleep. I will see you all in the morning at the latest." It feels like he should say something encouraging to the group, but all he can come up with is, "It may not feel as though we have saved anyone, but we must think of those who would have been next. And we should take at least some sort of satisfaction at doing the job well. Thank you all." He then slips out of the churchyard past the still-gathered people and makes his way to the tavern. It is surprisingly busy. Busy, but not festive. Those who have not lost anyone all seem to be hear, drinking deeply. And once a few see him finding a small table to one side, it becomes even quieter.

Eventually one or two men briefly approach to offer the young guardsman a word of thanks or sympathy. Corren simply smiles and thanks them. Alena brings him food and ale without him even ordering. He gives her a genuine smile of gratitude. He focuses on his meal and tunes out the murmuring of the crowd. But as he finishes he finds his spirits rising, as a good meal usually does for him. And then his ears catch the topic of several nearby people. They are discussing what name they should bestow upon Corren, Roland, Zinna, Mradoric and Carrick. He knows he should feel some pride, but he is horrified to hear words like "Heroes," "Avengers," and the like. It is obvious the discussion has been going on for some time, and as he has not reacted to this point, it would be unfair to jump in at this time.

Regardless, he is tempted to ask them to refrain from it, when Alena shakes her head as she delivers them another round. She says with clear finality, "I know enough about these people to say they don't want to be lauded overly. From here on out, they are The Defenders of Clear Creek." All of the patrons and staff look over at Corren and see him mulling it over, before nodding to himself. "Defenders" is not too celebratory, it offers a stalwart image rather than something flashy or glamorous. He suddenly realizes they are looking at him. He raises his mug to them and nods.

"Defenders of Clear Creek, it is," says Quell.

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Mradoric watches the people as he walks by. He is glad to see a good turn out and knows that they may have saved a lot of people from the creature. He just wishes they could have saved more. As they start to unload the bodies he sees more and more of the towns people gathered shedding more tears. After the last of the bodies are unloaded Mradoric can not handle it anymore and he has to leave. He walks to the edge of town and then collapses. In the center of town he can hear the people of the village start to wail and cry as they see their loved ones remains.
He crawls over to the side of a building and leans back into it as he lets the days events wash over him. He is saddened by the loss and the fact that he cold not have saved others. He vows to himself that he will strive to do better and work hard to ensure that things like this stop happening to good people. How long he sits there in the dark he has no idea. It is somewhere in the early morning hours that he finally picks himself p and heads towards the tavern. He does not even know if it is open of not but he feels that he needs to try and get some sleep.

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread Archive Pathfinder / D&D

The Scout of the Deep Wilds says...

Carrick's anger gives way to sadness during the quite ride back to Clear Creek as the reality of the circumstances finally begin to hang heavy upon him. As they draw the wagon through town toward the church, Carrick sees many of the townspeople, already expecting their arrival, make room for the wagon as it passes.
Some of them are carrying baskets full of flowers and different herbs to be placed on the graves of the dead, and most are also carrying several strips of fine linen, most white but some dyed in bright hews of yellows. The more religious and superstitious folk tie these strips of linen to different parts of a body, usually the wrists or ankles, in hopes that once the person has passed to the next realm The Maker will see the brightly color strips over what may be the person's darker soul and be swayed to use it for his purposes on the Great Tapestry, and not the Destroyer.

As Carrick watches the rites being carried out by Bhisen, and the townsfolk go about their individual mourning traditions, it dawns on him that they have brought back many bodies of wild elves and it appears that no one, including himself, really knows what to do with their remains. This thought is momentarily pushed from the forefront of his mind as he sees its Coridan's turn to receive his final rites. Carrick fully believes that The Maker can't be swayed as He knows all of us and our doings in this life and what good is little piece of cloth around the wrist going to do?
The dwarf slowly makes his way to Coridan's body and kneels next to it, "Ye were a fine hunter, but an even geat'r friend. May th' Maker grant ye peace." Carrick reaches into his satchel and pulls out a small strip of pure white linen and ties it to Coridan's wrist then lowers his voice to below a whisper, "But a lit'le nudge from ol' Carrick 'ere couldn't hurt, eh?" The dwarf gives a slight grin then rises and once all the rites and rituals are completed, he heads to the Drunken Logger for a much needed ale….

Edited: Brandonfett on 15th Oct, 2016 - 2:32pm

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Zenna rides back silently towards the town. She hasn't spoken since entering the den. Her mind is in turmoil trying to deal with what has happened here. She has never seen such butchery of innocents like this. Throughout the entire ride she can't stop thinking about the young girl that was killed and the fact that Geoffrey lost his parents. Lost in reverie she notices that they have entered Clear Creek.

Upon arriving at the churchyard she assists in laying out the corpses. Zenna feels like she needs some sort of closure from this horrific event so she decides to watch Father Bhisen conduct the final rites. He has an oil prepared. He goes to each corpse and smears some oil on their forehead. It's hard to tell from where he is standing at first but when he nears where she is she can see that he is smearing it in the shape of a cross in a circle. He then kneels down by them and speaks soft words she cannot hear. Father Bhisen then rises up and circles his right arm over them while chanting softly. It appears that the older that the person is the bigger the circle is. The young girl for example has the shortest circle of all while he chants. Zenna cries softly off to the side when she sees him perform the rites over Matilda.

Many people seem so confident about the Maker. They think that if they live a good life they will be in a paradise with the Maker or used in his Great Tapestries. How could anyone know this though? No one had came back to tell the story. Zenna didn't see how anyone had faith in this. It couldn't be known for sure. She thought well at least it gives hope to mourning people and that is a good thing. Watching the rites being completed she notices Carrick tying on a white strip of cloth. This must be the friend of his. She stands there and watches the rites being finalized.

At the end she decides to head out quietly. Zenna plans on trying to drink this horror away. She is walking towards the Drunken Logger and notices Carrick striding along resolutely ahead of her. She quickly catches up to him and walks astride. " I'm sorry about your friend Carrick. So sorry. I'm headed to the Drunken Logger for some drinks. I want to drink all of this away. Feel free to drink me with if you wish or if you wish to be alone I understand. "

Edited: Kyrroeth on 15th Oct, 2016 - 7:06pm

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The Scout of the Deep Wilds says...

Having Zinna invite him to accompany her to the Logger, Carrick perks up a bit, "Aye, lass, I be feelin' th' same. Me thinks havin' one 'nothers company do us both good in a time like this."
As they enter the tavern, the dwarf sees Corren and begins to head to his table.

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread

Lying hidden in the sidelines Roland watch the rites conducted by father Bhisen, whispering a short prayer for every single one of them.

He can see Zinna and Carrick leave at the end of the ceremony and quickly follow father Bhisen and a few townsfolks to the chantry to pray for the souls of the deads facilitating there access to the realm of the Maker.

The chantry is ordinary, with a T shape and a single nave wich leads directly to the apse.
The benches are quite empty since by now many villagers are drinking at the tavern.
Roland spends the evening in prayer looking for redemption, going back to his room only late in the night…

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread - Page 37

The Maker says...

Quell opens the tavern to the public for a few hours serving discounted ale to the patrons to help them cope with the horrors of the day. A few villagers approach the party’s table to offer thanks or, not knowing exactly how to show their gratitude they offer to buy drinks. Quell allows them to pay so that they may feel as though they have offered something to the weary heroes but Quell had already informed the party that their drinks would be on the house and with a sad smile explains that the coin he collects for the villagers buying the drinks will go to the families of the victims that they are able to identify.

After a few hours, however, Quell announces that the tavern is closing to the public “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here” he says above the dull din of the small crowd of patrons “tonight the Logger is reserved for the Defenders of Clear Creek.”

With that he and Alena shoo the patrons away and out the door leaving the tavern to the party alone. Alena and Quell disappear for the most part, though they must be watching because your mugs never become empty. Occasionally Alena will slip in to refill everyone’s mugs and then silently disappear again.

At the church Father Bhisen is in and out of the Chapel going about the task of final rites and preparations for the victims. At one point he stops and places a reassuring hand onto Roland’s shoulder but says nothing before returning to one of his numerous tasks. An acolyte, a young freckle faced girl named Abaigeal, silently moves through the chapel dressed in a plain white robe ensuring that the candles remain lit throughout Roland’s prayers. Once he leaves all the candles, save one, are snuffed out. The only remaining candle sits on a sconce near the altar and represents the eternal light of the Maker which is never snuffed out and which is replaced as soon as it burns down.

Out of Character: : This essentially concludes the adventure, though of course the players may want to have an interaction at the tavern which you are free to do. I know that there are two votes to start another adventure which we can discuss more in the support thread. If there is anyone that does not want to continue this is a good drop out point. I will probably do something of an epilogue before the start of the next adventure just to wrap everything up if any player wants to drop out here let me know so I can work it into the epilogue (Don’t worry I won’t kill off your character if you choose not to continue).

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread D&D / Pathfinder Archive - Page 37

Corren is glad to see Carrick and Zinna, and the smile on his face is one of both pleasure, and relief. As they sit quietly, accepting thanks and drinks from the locals, they don't say much. But once Quell and Alena shoo the other people out, it becomes uncomfortably quiet. Finally Corren speaks.

"Don't get me wrong. I am quite relieved we found the beast and killed it, but seeing all those victims… if only we'd been sent out earlier… or that hunter had stumbled across it sooner… something… " He sighed, then looked his companions in the eyes. "Regardless, I am very glad to have worked with you both." He felt a slight flush to his cheeks as he looked at Zinna, but decided it must be due to the drink he had imbibed.