Between two Disciples

[Wildfire]

"Well Melzak was travelin' with Dannobar I be figurin' that it'd be only natural tha' Cap'n would know him...but I could be wrong." Zurn says. Then he asks, "Cap'n do ye know the gnome Melzak? I was sent from Gorna in his company. Looks like he waited for the right time to strike methinks.."

[Dray]

"I am not sure Captain Coris is aware of who Melzak is my brother."

Valen reached around his chair to pick up his backpack he had placed on the floor behind it. From the top of it, he procurred the book that had been the thorn in the parties side since they stole it from him.

"He had this book in his sleeping quarters."

Valen dropped with a thud onto the Captain's desk.

[Wildfire]

"er...Oh yeah, Melzack the backstabber is still on the loose. We las' saw him in the forest but we...ah...[size=9:1543954502]let him go[/size]."Zurn said somewhat under his breath.

[Johan]

Coris and Corryn shared a questioning glance.

"I've known Dannobar a long time." Coris started.

"As have I." Corryn chimed in quietly.

"He was a good man for a lot of years. For him to have abandoned Ehlonna would have taken some prodding." Coris continued. "Believe me, I'm sure that he didn't abandon our lady of his own initiative."

"I cannot see him making zombies." Corryn was clasping a gold pendant that clung to a thin chain about her neck. The pendant was round and bore a rampant unicorn with sun rays all around it. "There is more to this, I think Coris." Zurn and Valen could see tears welling in the tall woman's eyes.

"Whether he abandoned Ehlonna or not, She has not abandoned him, I am sure. If he is past, as you say, may She hold him close to her and remove his taint." He kissed his own pendant as he spoke this small prayer.

Coris then looked up, his handsome brow furrowed in thought. "If he was the leader of this mass of Gargun, then would they not have broken since he was killed?" He mused to himself a moment. "I'll have to find a small force to investigate the status to the west."

He then looked back to the Disciples. "What else have you to tell?" He asked, changing the subject.

[Wildfire]

"Aye that he Cap'n. As a matter of fact those living dead that I mentioned were of his making. Stinky, dirty zombies they were. Anyway, Dannobar is dead sir." Zurn stops a second and a frown forms on his face. Angrily he says, "To think tha' he pretended to be my brother in Ehlonna! That's down right low down...and unholy it is...mocking her the way he did!" Zurn calms  down a bit and says, "Excuse me milady and Cap'n. I hate to be seein' disrespect like tha'."

[Johan]

"We arrived here only a couple of days ago." Lady Corryn answered Valen's question. She had a very peacefull manner about her.

"That's not good news." Coris said softly. "We had no idea that they were there at all. Of course," he perked up a bit as he spoke. "We are now well fortified; this place can stand an onslaught very handily, now that the moles have all been cast out. And speaking of moles, whatever happened to old Dannobar? Was he in fact in league with this horde?"

[Wildfire]

"Cap'n...oh! excuse me milady I didn't mean to cut ye off in speaking but Cap'n we'd have returned sooner but we fell into some dire times trying to cure our friends. We'd not thought that the keep would've been reinforced. As a matter o' fact we thought it overrun from the bastard orcs...excuse me words milady. Anyway, the stronghold be filled with more orcs, bugbears, and kobolds than can be counted. They are of course gettin' dangerous with winter breaking and all...they could rally to war methinks. I don't have proof o' that but they are orcs afta all."

[Dray]

"That's about right Zurn. Seems like we have traveled the world over in these past few days, heh. most likely due to walking the same path over and over again." Valen said.

Noting the look from the Lady to the Captain, he asked, "Lady Corryn, did you just arive here at the Keep?"

[Johan]

Lady Corryn poured wine into two wooden goblets that were on the desk. As Zurn spoke Coris looked up in alarm.

"Mountain stronghold?" He asked in greater volume than he had intended. "Mountain stronghold?" He repeated more quietly. Lady Corryn glided over to close the thick oaken door. "Our scouts never reported a mountain stronghold. And only two days from here?!? Who holds this stronghold? Are they friend or foe? Foe most likely..." He mused, stroking his thin beard thoughtfully. "How many are there?" He hurried on. "Why didn't you report back sooner?"

"Settle down, Coris." Lady Corryn's calm and gentle voice seemed to have an immediate impact on Coris as he looked into her eyes and calmed visibly.

Lady Corryn handed a goblet to each of the disciples then. "Tell us more about this stronghold, brothers." She suggested kindly.

[Wildfire]

OOC: this is the first Forest Keep ICD to reach past 1 page!

[Wildfire]

Zurn looked at the exchange between the two, "Uh...The hole went down inta tha' ground and over to the mount'n stronghold...took a day or two though. Sound 'bout right Valen? Mind if I help meself to some o' tha' wine?" he asked Coris.

[Johan]

Coris's eyes went form confused to tired accepting. "Very well." He said. "Where did the hole go, what did you find there?" He asked. Lady Corryn looked upon Coris with large, kind sapphire eyes, almost as if the two were bound in wedlock.

[Dray]

Valen chuckled.

"I am afraid your weary mind missed a whole bunch of detail. And judging by the confused look on the Catptain's face, I think we have thoroughly confused him without it." Valen said, still laughing.

"But that Sir Captain is the very quick rendition of our journey. Why don't we start the details by responding to your questions. Fire away good sir."

[Wildfire]

Zurn thinks of all the events that've happened since they went down the hole. "Okay Cap'n. Please excuse me if'n I miss a few details. So, afta we went into the hole we went down a long passage. We fought some living dead and eventually found our way inta a beasty stronghold. We managed to get out. Not by our wits mind you but 'cause of these", Zurn pulls out the Circle of Squares. "Wandering through the forest we came across the bastard gnome who wanted his book back...oh yeah, we stole his book back in the stronghold."

Zurn scratches his head and continues, "Then we came across a party of kobolds and..." Zurn thought of how best to explain the time warp that Valen swears by, "we defeated them. We then came across the Wendigos, Arlen and miss kitty all about the same time. Himo got himself bit and Belwar started gettin' grumpy...er, even more grumpy. We were then persuaeded to stay with a tall mumbly guy who said that the swamp witch could help us cure our friends. so we wnent to find her, got lost in her stinky maze for a while but we did find her. She gave us some advice and we traveled south and hit the road. Now, here we are? Right now that's all I got. Please excuse me, my mind be needin' some sleep so I might not have remembered every small detail. I do hope what I've told ye helps though. Valen, can you think of anything?"

[Johan]

[size=24:840620778e]Son of a...[/size]