Turn 14 -- Burial; Camp & Departure

Still very weak from his wounds, Talimar searches around for a branch to use as a walking staff. After listening to Kuiper he speaks, "I have to agree with Kuiper to go after the werebear, but we will be back to settle our score with the orcs. I have my doubts that the orcs were responsible for the kidnapping of Jelenneth, we found no clues there, whatever we are up against it is more than a simple band of orcs."

Dain scratches the orcish symbol from the shields into the margin of his spellbook next to his chill touch spell for future reference. He then inspects the body of the orcish leader for any physical difference from the rest of the orcs. Finding none, he speaks to the group, "It is very odd that the leader had no clan markings upon his shield. If anything, his symbol would have been more prominent than the rest. I have a hunch that the leader was somehow not a normal orcs and not connected directly to the rest of those encountered." Dain's face then turns to a vexing expression and the contents of his pipe begin to glow brightly due to a rather large inhalation followed by an enormous cloud of smoke. "I don't like this one bit."

After displaying his findings from the bodies of the dead orcs, Ras addresses Talimar, "Maybe someone should check the leaders shield to see if it might be magical? I am willing to continue on if my comrades wish to." He then turns to speak to the entire group, "Can a couple of you help me place our friends shell into this grave we have dug? If any of you elves wish to a short service be my guest."

Beleg and Gnore, considering it an honour to assist the gallant elf unto her trek to Valholl, step forward to help the young halfling lay the body of the dead elf into the grave. After the body has been placed into the ground, Talimar moves over to the side of the grave and begins to sing in elvish, softly at first, but growing stronger. His melodic elven voice drifting through the trees, praising Zir'zool's life and aiding her in her journey from this world to the next. As Talimar begins to sing, Beleg removes his recorder from his backpack and plays a beautiful counterpoint to Talimar's melody in tribute to his fallen companion.

Upon hearing Talimar's beautiful song, a tear creeps down the side of Dain's face--barely visible in the dim light. Those close to Dain here him muttering softly to himself, "Someday it will be my bones resting in an earthen hole...someday it will be me."

Gnore lowers his head in respect and listens intently to both song and music. After the melody is done, Gnore whispers a dwarven prayer to protect Zir'zool on her journey, then he and Beleg set about filling the grave. With that task complete, he turns to the general assembly, "We'll find Maxim if killing the orcs is second," he states with more than slight venom.

Kersath moves to Zir'zool's grave, kneels and whispers softly so that nobody else hears, "May Mielikki take you in peace and your soul rest in the eternal place of Elysium with the souls of eternal warriors."

He then gets up, wipes a tear from his eye and addresses the rest of the group, trying to change the subject of Zir'zool's death, "Those orcs were obviously looking for the spell casters in our group, and I don't think they're working as freelancers. Orcs would never intentionally try to capture an elf alive, they're just too blood-thirsty and too unorganised. I suspect that somebody else organised them--probably the same one who organised Carlanis' group. We should first find the poor werebear boy, find Jelenneth and then go off in search of those who are responsible. They probably are the same people," after pausing a moment he continues, "But you know something, a strange thing is that no one has tried to kidnap Tauster. Whoever they are, they seem to be interested only in wizards with little or moderate ability," and then very quickly, he turns to Dain and Talimar and says, "no offence, huh guys? It's just that Jelenneth was an apprentice and you two are not as accomplished as Tauster. What do you say?"

Talimar gives Kersath a sour look, "Aren't you supposed to be out on point? Anyway, that is a good point, perhaps Tauster is no risk to our adversaries holed up in that rickety old tower of his, but we should let him know of the risk when we get back there. He may know something we don't."

Beleg looks sadly at the grave of Zir'zool one last time and then at the bodies of the slain orcs; shaking his head sadly he addresses his companions, "My heart tells me to try to find out where these foul creatures came from and what, if any, part they have in the strange events of the past few days. However, I will abide by the majority opinion. If the party wishes to assist Kuiper in finding the boy Maxim, then I will join them." Having spoken, Beleg looks to the condition of his horse Asfalof. Seeing that he is fine, he then begins to don his armour, gather his belongings and prepare to depart.

At this point, Ortho steps up to address the group, "We need to determine a way to divvy up the spoils of war. Ras collected a bunch of coinage from the orcs. Shall we attempt to split it evenly here and now or shall we create a 'party treasure fund' into which all valuables will be dumped until we can get ourselves back to civilisation? If we do the 'fund' we just collect and have one person in charge of accounting. Carrying the actual valuables can be split up however desired. My purpose here is to avoid doing a split after every encounter. Let's just have one split when we get back to town. I nominate as our 'accountant' the one individual among us who has evidenced a strong desire to account for all monies found: Ras! Do I hear a second?"

Talimar quickly replies to Ortho, "I will second that motion, I am sure Ras will keep a good eye on our money," he grins at the halfling, "as long as he divides it up fairly at the end!"

"I can keep track of our funds as treasurer, I will start right now," says the excited Rasmussen. He then takes out a small book from his backpack and acting as if he has done this before draws up a table and fills in the figures. "I will begin with the money we collected from these worthless Orcs. I can carry this small amount but I may need others of you to carry in the future." Ras then places the coins in another pouch and places it at his side next to his own money pouch. He then places the book back in his pack. "If anyone needs money before we divide it up I will keep track of it."

At the mention of needing assistance carrying future loot, Kre speaks up, "Good friend Ras, I would be delighted to assist you in the counting and carrying of any goods taken by this fine group."

His enthusiasm is quickly shattered by the commanding voice of Brother Randor, "I am sure dear Kre that between myself and Beleg as well as others that your assistance in carrying any of the funds acquired by the group will not be needed. After all, we wouldn't want you to be loaded down and interfere with any tracking that you may have to do now would we? Also, I'm sure Beleg or I either one would be delighted to take any part of your funds that you wish to donate to those less fortunate than yourself. Just let us know when you wish to make a donation." And with that Brother Randor smiles deeply at Kre before walking on.

"Let's get moving, I don't like this place," says Ras as he moves alongside Beleg and prepares to depart.

Kuiper bids farewell to the lady Oleanne, she turns to address the group, "I deeply sorry for loss of your friend," she says in her mixture of broken Common, "I will track these beasts and find them for you." With that said, she turns and disappears into the woods without a trace.

With no other reason to stay in the clearing, the party heads out again to track down the werebear. Kuiper once again takes the point with Kersath to use their woodland abilities to find the beast. The entire mood of the group is very sombre as you set out but none more sombre than Talimar, Ortho, Druckner, and Gnore. As demihumans all they realise that despite their ability to live longer than humans they are also painfully aware of each of their races inability to replenish their numbers as quickly as humans. The loss of one of their kind is always felt deeply. Anyone walking next to Ortho can hear him mumbling on about "only stresses the need for me to find Pericles....something must be done..."

Brother Randor steps up to walk next to Gnore and speaks, "Friend Gnore, now about these curses....."

The rain stopped after about two hours of tracking but it never was a problem for Kuiper and Kersath to find the trail of the wounded bear. A half-days tracking enables the party to catchup with the bear. Trudging along as usual, Kuiper all of a sudden motions for quiet and everyone stops dead in their tracks. There is a slight movement in the trees up ahead and a rustling of the branches and then the were-bear Maxim steps into the path. A quick glance tells you that the boy has been wounded in some way and appears to be quite upset about it. The bear immediately begins to attack Kuiper as he steps out into the path of the bear. Quickly moving in and out of the range of the bear just enough to frustrate it and tire it out, Kuiper buys time for Beleg to ready his net. Beleg finally throws the net and it snags the bear! Kuiper quickly tosses his net onto the bear effectively trapping it. Maxim thrashes around for a few moments more before finally giving in to being captured.

Kuiper kneels down by the bear and talks to it in some strange language, attempting to calm and pacify the bear. He then pulls a vile from his backpack and gives a sip to the bear and you see some of his wounds appear to heal up. The bear then appears to breathe more regularly and easily, slowly accepting its situation. Kuiper finally removes the nets and the bear moves along behind the party as you return to Kuiper's farm. A few hours before getting back to Kuiper's farm the bear finally manages to change back to human form.

When this happens, Beleg walks over to look the boy in the eyes and as he does this you can see Beleg's body visibly relaxing as he finally realises that he truly did not help an evil creature. Upon arriving to the farmstead, Kuiper takes the boy to the side and has a long, private talk with him. When he finishes, Kuiper moves over to speak with the party.

"I believe the boys great-uncle was a werebear and the trait may run in the family. He was scared to death, didn't know what was going on with him. Apparently he was attacked by the same group of orcs that attacked us. He killed four and drove the rest away. I explained to him that he couldn't have done that otherwise and he seemed to take heart at that. He'll be fine though," explains Kuiper.

"I'm going to take him back to his father's farm now. Jelenneth's disappearance and the attack by the orcs disturb me. If I may ask another favour of you, will you please carry word back to Garyld in Milbourne of what has happened here, he will be able to spread the news and warn the people."

"I promise you that if I hear anything from Oleanne I will send for you immediately."

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