One Brief Shining Moment

[Prince_Asuryan]

John watched amazed as the scene unfolded around him, but when Merlin returned to the shore, his amazement turned to anger.

'And a high debt it is indeed. Not only is my friend dead, but his fiance and unborn son are left without him. Too high a price for a sword...'

His anger turned to pleading.

'Is there nothing you can do for him Merlin, with all your magic and wonder?'

[Calarion Sapherior]

"A sword, you say? As much a sword as this is a puddle of water and Britain a mound of dirt, Sir John, as much as Christ on the cross only a dead criminal!"

Merlin sighed. "Oh, I could restore him to you, but not to life, not as you know it. Unable to speak, unable to feel love or hatred or happiness or sadness, feeling only a hunger that can never be quenched and a thirst that can never be sated... even if you would wish such a thing for your friend, I would never grant it. Consider this, Sir John: all men die. It is what they leave behind them that matters. He leaves a son, a woman, friends, who will mourn him and miss him; and what he has helped to do here this day will be remembered long after his name has been forgotten. That is more than many men could dream of achieving."

"There is one thing that I can do, and shall do: I shall see his flesh, and his spirit, to their final resting places."

[cidracin]

Aldrydd gave an anguished cry as he awoke to see the remains of Gauis's corpse. He had been bisected apparently from the lake creatures sword. Tears came rolling down Aldrydd's cheek at the sight of such a great man taken down so early. It should be himlying there not Gauis, for Gauis was a better man than Aldrydd could ever hope to be. Gauis never would have bartered with a witch and imperiled his soul, he would not have been as weak As Aldrydd had been. Aldrydd told himself that he would make sure that his son was well looked after and would know what kind of a man his father had been. Aldrydd knew that it was not easy being able to know one's father. Sir Arthgog had died when Aldrydd was very young and had only a few flashes of memory of his father. He had never been able to picture his face.

Turning to Merlin Aldrydd spoke,"Well Merlin we've done what you have asked of us and you hint that what we have done here will greatly impact the course of history. And that all of Britain is in our debht. I thank you for what you will do for Gauis I think he is owed that at least. He was a spiritual man highly devout. He woud not want to see one of his friends damned." Aldrydd now bent down on one knee and bowed his head in front of Merlin in his best display of humility. "I ask in return for Briatain's debht to me in for my deeds in her service the knowledge you refused me earlier. My greatest desire is to hunt the evil that lies hidden in Chute Forest and cleanse the forest of its taint forever. Please Merlin I beg of you give me the knowlege I will need to kill this witch before my accord leads to some great evil that will damn me, and also I fear cause great harm to our beloved Britain. Please listen to my tale and gimpart upon me the wisdom neccasary to cleanse Britain of the hags evil." As he finished the tears that he had shed for Gauis were still upon his cheeks though now they were mixed with the ones of despair that he had held back since leaving the witches lair almost a year earlier. Though Aldrydd had managed to keep his voice level for the better part of his speech.

[Calarion Sapherior]

"Boy, you need to get your mind off your own problems," Merlin snapped. "If you were so keen to avoid damnation, you could have just called upon God to protect you at the time, or simply refused the deal and died pure. Only children come crying to their elders once they've made a mistake; grown men find a way to deal with it, or live with the consequences."

He turned to look at the group. "I must go now. I will take Sir Gaius's body to Lady Gwiona for burial, and I will contact his soul to give him his last rites and absolution. Unless you go and do something stupid, I will see you again."

His last word still hung in the air, but the wizard had already vanished, and with him Gaius' body.

ooc:Hit points after first aid:

Alain 8/29
Aldrydd 9/26
John 12/27
Tinian 8/26

[cidracin]

Aldrydd felt anger well up inside of him at Merlin's words to him. He was trying his best and Merlin had only to spaek with him for a short time, surely the wizard was not that busy. Even more he owed all of them. And the wizard had a mind to tell him to take his mind off possible damnation that was easier said then done. Now he would also have to talk to the others about his deal with the witch before returning, it was a talk he dreaded. But at the moment he was to shocked at Gauis's death to start it, instead he turned his mind to their future. "So where are we to go and what are we to do. Are we to continue our hunt for treasure and continue on our quest to find Lady Elissa and hire mercenaries for the Earl? I for one believe we owe it to Gauis to find his cousin, I believe he would have wanted that." Aldrydd said quietly in his grief.

[Anarion]

Tinian looked at Aldrydd curiously but thought better of saying anything for now. It just wasn't the time. "We must honor Gaius' desire and meet our obligation to Earl Roderick," he said. "We can do nothing for Gaius but be valorous in his honor. Let us rest again for a time and then proceed with due haste to Savernake Forest and thence on to London. Let no distractions turn us from this course lest we be too late to accomplish either task."

[Calarion Sapherior]

The knights returned to their horses and squires, and found a place to camp down for the night. Spirits were low after the sudden death of Sir Gaius. It began to rain again during the night, and so the group slept but restlessly. The next day, the rain continued. After their sojourn at the mysterious lake, the knights soon became lost, and only Sir Tinian kept the group from becoming completely lost. For the morning of Monday, the knights continued across the hills, until they reached the Savernake Hills. Once in the forest, the knights began searching for the mysterious treasure that they had heard of. Before long, Tinian discovered a series of ancient burial mounds from time immemorial, all lying clustered together. There was a sign nearby with a word on it, "TORANOS", which none of the group could understand, with a crude image carved underneath it that Sir Aldrydd thought was most likely a lightning bolt.

[cidracin]

Aldrydd knew that if these mounds contained treasure then there was sure to be some sort of ptection preventing it from being taken. He thought this had to be the case for the mounds looked anciet and still appeared to be undisturbed. "If these mounds contain the treasure we seek surely there must be some sort of protection upon the mounds whether it be mundane or arcane. For these mounds appear ancient yet they appear to not have been looted. Other men besides us should have discovered these mounds yet they either chose not to take from them out of fear or respect. Or perhaps they tried and were killed by this ghostly guardian that legend speaks of."

[Anarion]

"Whatever we do we should be on our guard," said Tinian, looking around casually. He found it hard to follow his own advice, he was curious about the mounds themselves.

He resisted the urge to touch the mounds, for once letting prudence rule the day.

OOC: rolled a 3 vs prudent.

[Calarion Sapherior]

Investigating further, the knights found a central mound. Upon the mound was an ancient stone monument, pitted with age. It had been fashioned in time immemorial into the shape of a plinth with two extending pillars, far enough apart that a man might pass through them, each with a hole through them at head level wide enough for a man to put one hand through. The base of the monument was stained with some dark substance... peering at it, Sir Tinian and Sir Aldrydd realised that it was blood.

[cidracin]

Aldrydd realised with horror what this place was. It was a place where human sacrifices had taken place , though hopefully that had ended a long time ago. "This place is seems like an old Pagan gathering place. From the look of the pillars this place was used for human sacrifice to one of their gods and these mounds are were those that were sacrificed were buried. If we disturb these mounds this headless guardian might very well come to life for we would be desecrating holy ground."

[Bob of Beleriand]

"Merlin spoke of calling for God's blessing, perhaps now is as good a time as any." Alain added quietly.

[Calarion Sapherior]

Alain began to pray fervently to God, asking for his blessing... but there was no reply, and he did not truly believe that there ever would be, for him: his love for Adelle conflicted with his religious duties, and the feelings which he held for her were much stronger. Gradually, his prayers faded.

[Bob of Beleriand]

Alain opened an eye, trying to surreptitiously see what the others were doing. For the moment he maintained the pretense of continued prayer.

[Prince_Asuryan]

John nodded in agreement with Alain, and he too began to pray, hoping his faith in the face of this supernatural horror was strong enough.

[Anarion]

Tinian did not feel pious enough to offer a prayer at this time. He studied the monument, noting the height of the holes in the pillars. "The legend that Lardans told us of spoke of a headless ghost. Look here at the holes in the pillars beside this altar. They are roughly the height of a mans head. Perhaps some kind of decapitation ritual was performed here. I'm of a mind to thrust my spear through the two holes and see if something happens. Now that we are here we might as well risk doing something or else we should move on before we die of inaction."

He waited a moment to see if there were objections before he raised his spear.

OOC: Rolled a 16 for pious and 11 for valorous (and 8 for reckless) to see if Tinian dares do that.

[Calarion Sapherior]

Sir John began to pray as well, but like Sir Alain, he knew he was not spiritual enough. He had lost his innocence as a result of his duties as a knight: his hatred of the Saxons and of the Irish blinded him to the deepest understanding of Jesus Christ. As he rose, Lardans said, "Maybe we should try digging? The treasure is probably hidden in one of the mounds."

Sir Tinian, meanwhile, thrust his spear through the two holes of the stone pillars. Immediately, a terrible anguished scream seemed to come from under the very ground, lasting as long as Sir Tinian's spear was between the two holes.

ooc: John failed his Forgiving and Merciful rolls.

[Anarion]

Tinian withdrew the spear sharply and the screaming stopped. He looked at the others with rueful grin. "Seems somebody didn't like that much," he said, more casually then he felt. After a few minutes it seemed nothing else would happen. Tinian shrugged. "Well, we came for gold, so lets see if there is any." He began to dig into the central mound. It was slow work without any proper digging tools.

He felt little fear, already he'd seen much that the prospects of a ghost didn't really frighten him, at least not one he had yet to see.

OOC: valorous 12, prudent 7, reckless 7 says Tinian digs.

[Prince_Asuryan]

John looked nervous, and stood back, his hand on his sword, ready to attack should something spring from the mound.

OOC: Failed a lot there :s

Prudent: 1 to not dig and be ready to attack.

[cidracin]

Aldrydd was too wary to join Tinian in the digging personally and drew his sword in case the ghost showed up. He turned to Bruce and said reassuringly, "Be a good lad and go help Sir Tinian with the digging. Don't worry about anything going wrong I'll make sure that nothing ill happens to you whilst you are digging."

OOC: rolled a 9 for Prudence so no digging for Aldrydd personally let me know if there are any other rolls I need to make.

[Calarion Sapherior]

Sir Tinian and the squires began to dig at the central mound. They had barely begun to shift the earth when the weather changed, and drastically for the worse. The clouds darkened at an unnatural rate, and it began to rain heavily. Within moments the rain turned to hail, large stinging chunks of ice. Thunder roared and snarled in the heavens, and lightning bolts struck down, exploding a nearby tree into splinters... and then another, and another. The wind howled about them, with such force that Sir Aldrydd was knocked over.

From the central mound, a screaming spectre arose, a flying shade in the form of a man whose jagged neck had been roughly hacked through. There was no sign of the head that produced the hideous din, which could be heard over the sound of the storm. Rain and hail passed straight through the apparition, and it paused to hover in the air. A fourth lightning bolt descended through its insubstantial form before exploding another tree, and yet the sound of its shrieks were greater than the sound of thunder. It was too much for the squires, who cried out in fear and began to flee into the forest. The horses were fleeing as well, save for the well-trained chargers: but even they were whinnying and their eyes were flashing in panic.

[cidracin]

Aldrydd picked himself up off of the ground after the wind had knocked him down. He looked up at the dreadful headless spectre that appeared in the air above the burial mounds and felt fear. Yet he managed to master his fear rather than allowing it to control him. Aldrydd saw how the hail and splinters passed through the headless fiend ethereal form and knew that the blade he held in his hand would probably of no use against this foe. Aldrydd could think of no way of dealing with the spectre except for exorcism, but he knew that his faith was not strong enough to banish such a powerful entity. He wished that Gauis was still with them for Aldrydd felt the strength of his faith would have sent their foe reeling. Deciding it would be best to make a retreat before the lightning and weather ended his life Aldrydd sheathed his sword and begin to make his way into the cover of the forest's tree line. Aldrydd reached the trees quickly and with only superficial scratches from the splinters and hail in the air.
OOC: 8 for DEX

[Bob of Beleriand]

OOC: I wasn't entirely sure on a few things so I've made some guesses?

"Someone thrust their spear through the cavity, we may wound or slow it. We may even find the remains of its head and destroy it!" Alain yelled over the tempest seeking to be heard. He hoped however that the insubstantial nature of the spectre was not a one-way affair, that their inability to harm it was likewise mirrored by an inability to directly interact with the world.

[Calarion Sapherior]

With his shield over his head to shelter himself as best he could, Sir Alain ran to the central stones and began to thrust his spear vigorously through the two holes. The spirit continued to screech, but Sir John realised that the screams did not sound any different now than before. The ghost was in the same pain when the spear was used symbolically against it as it was when the storm struck.

The weather continued to grow worse and worse, and all the knights withdrew into the forest for shelter. No sooner had they all left the burial mounds behind, then the thunder stopped, the hail died down, and the rain subsided to a gentle shower. There was no sign of the ghost in the clearing any more.

[Anarion]

"I think the word "Toranos" and the lightning bolt have some meaning after that wouldn't you say," said Tinian. "Perhaps that is the spectre's name." Far from cowed by the storm Tinian was all the more determined to figure it out.

He strode back to the mound and shouted "Toranos!"

[Calarion Sapherior]

The word "Toranos" hung in the air. No reaction could be seen, but Sir John, Sir Aldrydd and Sir Tinian thought that something had happened: although perhaps it was overwrought imagination after the storm.

[Bob of Beleriand]

OOC: Just as an FYI, I have absolutely no ideas at this point.

[Prince_Asuryan]

OOC: Just as an FYI, I have absolutely no ideas at this point.

OOC: Agreed.

John looked about him. 'Maybe now the Ghost knows we can hurt it we should try digging again?'

[Calarion Sapherior]

ooc: Just keep experimenting with different things. Everything you do will give you a different result.

Sir John led the squires back into the mounds to start digging again. The question was, would they dig at the larger central mound with the stone execution pillars again, or would they dig at one of the smaller mounds?

[Anarion]

Tinian braved the large central mound again. "If the storm returns we should try a lesser mound perhaps," he suggested.