The Rune Stone

Redcliff

Kralich had woken up to the realization that both supplies and coinage was running out. The various set-backs the had to face along the way where to blame for the lack of money in his pocket, but it was all rather irrelevant now. He -- They had to find a way to replentish their empty packs.

After a rather silent breakfast, in the wake of Varonno and Shadow's departure at the break of day, the mage broke the news to his remaining mercenaries, who were not all to happy to hear that. Well, mostly Nicholas was rather disturbed at the prospect of not getting his other half of the payment, like he was promised. Torstein pointed out that they still held on to a portion of the gold and jewlery from the barrow wraiths they encountered and while Kralich agreed that that would solve their problems, they still had to find someone willing to buy it. The dwarves of the Frostbite were their most likely candidate, but they were still a week's horse ride off, and that, if they were lucky and speedy in their journey there. As such, after a lengthy consideration over the dying embers of their small camp fire it was decided that they would deviate off the path indicated to them by Varonno as being 'safer and out of the way' towards the King's Highway once again, where most town and trade posts were dotted along. Here they would either try to find one of the dwarven merchants that sometimes came along or simply find a day job or a bounty, the latter being the preffered option of the barbarian.

When the sky was still on its way up towards its highest point, the remenants of the company had set off, away from the dirt road that would have lead them northwards, taking an even samller path bound for the west hills. On the road Torstein rode side by side with Kralich while Nicholas had taken it upon himself to do Varonno's job of scounting forwards. Only then it had occured to the barbarian that he hadn't really exchanged any words with the mage ever since they left Wellspring. It was always a group chat or the mage running off to his little corner to read from some book. The silence began to get at him, hating being left alone with his thoughts. "You know what would do you some good magey ?" began Torstein. "A good pair of nose plugs ?" retorted the mage off the cuff, not even bothering to look up from his tome. "No. Going out, finding a girl. Doesn't matter who, as long as there's no pants involved." continued the barbarian with a slight snicker on his face. "What makes you think I haven't already ?" "Oh, I can smell purity a mile away. It's a talent of mine." "That proves to be quite useful, I'm sure." "Not that often, turns out. Would be much better if I could sniff out cheese." ended Torstein, managing in the end, with that final line, to get a chuckle out of Kralich. This prompted the barbarian to try and pry more information out of the mage. "So, what are you going to do ? Once we find this shiny piece of rock." The mage was silent for a moment, finally looking up from his tome, straight ahead. "Your task will be complete, you will be payed and freed from my service. Allowed to go wherever you see fit." he responded. "No lad. I meant you. You get this rune, then what ?" pressed Torstein "I will make sure nobody will use it for evil again, so they do not bring destruction on these lands. Perhaps I will stay guard right then and there, in the frozen north. Who is to say. Frankly I do not trust the College not to use it." answered Kralich plainly. "So you are goin' rogue, that it ? Can't they track you down ?" "Oh, I have my ways. Do not trouble yourself, Torstein." "What about when you die, of old age, or anything for that matter ?" asked the old man, just as he spotted Nicholas appearing, riding towards them from behind a hill. "I have my ways. Fickle creatures; mages." he answered before hailing Nicholas over. "There's a town, about 10 miles off. They even have a keep perched atop a cliff, overlooking a lake. Should be a good place to start looking for work or trade, and to also spend the night." informed the rogue as he joined the other two, back on the way he came from. 

The closer the group came to the town the more off it seemed, from the top of the hill they were approaching from they could see that there were barely any people on the street, and even those that mingled about, were hunched over and sad-looking. As they descended upon a lower hill, that lead into a stone bridge which crossed a river leading into a waterfall towards the center of the town and then poured into the lake upon whoose shore the majority of houses were built upon, they were greeted by a lone sentry dressed in commoner clother and with a bow slung across his back. This weapon was the only indication that he was a guard at all, but nonetheless he seemed relieved to see the trio approach him. "Bless the kind soul of the Divine ! You came ! You are the scout force ?" asked the sentry. "What do you mean ?" inquired the mage, stepping off his horse, approaching the man. "Scout force for what ? What's going on here ?" The words of the mage seemed to unsettle the guard further. "So, you don't know ?! Nobody does ? Our messengers didn't make it ? Oh, no. No..." continued the man in a ramble that was only stopped when Kralich grabbed him by the shoulders. "Calm down man. We'll help with whatever we can. Just tell us what's going on ? What messengers ?" "The men we sent to send word to the king. For him to send the army to help us. The... The dead have began pouring out of the castle" the guard said poining up at the fortification overlooking both town and lake, perched up on a tall cliff in the middle of the water, linked to the shore by a massive stone bridge. "They come every night. And every night they take more of us, drag them to the castle, never to be seen again. No matter how many we kill, they just keep on coming." said the guard, never skipping a beat. Kralich paused, furrowing his brows, looking back at the two other men in his company. They both looked distraught but seemed ready to want to lend a hand anyway. "Who leads your resistance then ? Can you take us to him ?" asked the mage, turning back to the man. "That would be the mayor, Murdock and the lord's brother, Teagan. You'll find them in the church.Main square, can't miss it. I must stay here, warn the rest if the dead return." he'd say with a trembling nod.

The company then crossed the bridge and slowly descended into the empty town streets. Nobody was to be seen on the way to the main square, here many makeshift barricades had been risen (and broken) and blood soaked the soil. They pressed forwards, towards the church. Here they found the majority of who they assumed to be the survivors. A few dozen people, maybe fourty or fifty. A sorry sight from the size of the town who must have houses hundreds if not thousands. The reverend mother welcomed them as it was customary, offering them of the little food and what they had, taking them for town's folk. When informed they where here to help her face lit up considerably, hurrying off to grab the lord's brother.

He was a strongly built man, with broad shoulders and a fierce face covered in a brown beard and curly hair. "Teagan. At your service, though I wish the circumstances of your arrival here in Redcliff would have been more fortunate." he said as an introduction. "Aye. So do we. But it would help to know what's been going on here." opened Kralich with a gentle bow of his head. "I am Kralich Darkmane of the College, and these are my associates, Torstein Bjorn and Nicholas Hook" he ended, making a gesture to the other two men by his side. "A pleasure. As I am sure Thomas, the lad at the bridge told you; the undead have begun tormenting the town's folk. The lord of Redcliff has fallen ill and no one has heard from the castle in days. No guards patrol the walls, and no one has responded to my shouts." Teagan began, pausing briefly. "The attacks started a few night ago. Evil... things... surged from the castle. We drove them back, but many preished during the assaults. Each night they come with greater numbers and with whatever is going on in the capital city, no one seems to have answered my calls for help." he'd then stop again to take a deep breath. "Sir Darkmane, I hate to ask, but we desperately need your and your comapion's help. I have a feeling tonight's assault will be the worst to come." Kralich chimed up with unusual helpfulness, somewhat giving pause to his companions. "Ofcourse we'll help. Tell us what we can do." would say the mage. "Thank you, Thank you !" Teagan responded with a genuine smile on his face. "Now then, there is much to do before nightfall, and not much time left. I have assigned two men in charge of the outside defences. Murdock, the village mayor, is outside, on the side of the church, and Ser Perth, one of the knight's in the lord's guard, is just up the cliff, inside the windmill, watching the castle, you must have passed him and his men on your way here. You should discuss with them the preparations for the coming battle. I have to stay here and tend to the civilians, this is our last line of defence, should things go bad." informed Teagan. "So what exactly are these things ?" chimed Nicholas up. "I do not know, they seem to be walking corpses, men and women with rotting flesh that continue to attack even with the gravest injuries about them. We found fire to be our best chance against them." answered the lord's brother, prompting Kralich to add to it. "The undead are usually possesed by spirits, but it is hard to tell without seeing them, there can be several causes for it. None are good however." "All the more reason to deal with them, then." replied Teagan. "Hopefully we can find the source and stop it before it can do more damage, and with some luck find the lord alive too." he finished.

On the way out, the passed many crying people, morning the loss of family or friends, it was a sorry sight to say the least. Once outside Nicholas chimed up again. "So what the deal ? Why did you just up and decide to help these folk ? Isn't your own quest more important ? Seems awfully out of character for you mister mage." "Didn't you preach to Varonno that it would be the right thing to do when dealing with those pirates ? Isn't it the same here ? Even more so now. Besides I am duty bound as a mage to protect against all rogue magical threaths. This seems like one to me. I am honorable, despite what you might think. And if for nothing else, we still need the supplies and money they could offer." answered Kralich as he turned back towards Nick. The rogue stood dumb-struck for a short moment before nodding. "Alright. Sorry, I was a bit too hasty with my words there. Let's get to work then, shall we ?" he said.