Tricks of a God- Part 2

Jp with LSP and Rosmary

The Next Morning

The smell of cooking meat and eggs surrounded the sleeping group. The sizzling of sausage grease could be heard loud and clear. An old halfling wearing a fake long beard over his smooth face made him look older than ever. The King in White was always a sucker for old men disguises, his personal favorite was always the old halfling with a fake beard. He smiled, and raising his voice, called out, "Rise and shine, sleepy heads!"

Orla sat up in her bedroll, yawned and stretched, but then frowned as she saw the old Halfling who had awakened them. Where had he come from, and why did she have the strangest feeling about him?

At the abrupt wake up call, Reise shot up from his slumber and shouted, “Get down, Mister Kennedy!” Still half awake, he grabbed a rock within reach, chucking it in a vague arc into a nearby bush, sending a flock of mourning doves flying. The rock struck a boulder behind the bush and the noise seemed to ring out like the crack of the shot in his dream.

In his own hand, the halfling twirled another stone that was somehow familiar to Orla and Reise. "Are any of you hungry? I saw you folks camped out and just wanted to cook you something. I usually would share with the village nearby, but something burnt the place pretty badly and killed them. So it’s your lucky day, as I'm quite a good cook." He flipped the eggs in his pan and caught Orla's gaze. "Good Morning, lass!"

“Good morrow,” Orla replied smilingly, continuing to eye him curiously.

“We accept your mighty fine offer,” Reise said as he shook away the last cobwebs of his dream. “Those eggs smell like heaven. What’s this about a village being burned?”

The halfling passed a couple of plates to them, "I'm not sure what happened, but some weird looking knights left there, they looked like they were on fire. A bit odd, that. The village was burned down too, there was this great light and lots of screaming. This is a land that has known a lot of suffering, so who can say what it was all about? But whatever it is, it wasn't good." He stroked his fake beard, "Strangely the light left as soon as I saw those blue lightning storms we were getting. Like it saw an enemy or something. Strange, huh?" He flipped the last egg and looked at the stone in his hand. "Hey, would you look at what I found today! It was under some rubble of another burned village, wanna see it?" He offered it to the group, "Kinda odd, isn't it?"

Reise held up his hand in a cupped shape. “Toss it here, old-timer. I might not look it, but I know a thing or two about antiques and shiny trinkets.” The young man who was not young at all took the stone and started to examine it in his palm. It seemed quite familiar, like he had definitely seen it somewhere before, but when he tried to remember where, it got away from him. Where had he seen an amber stone and what significance did it have? He was sure it would come to him, in time. “This village,” he said conversationally. “You said it was oddly burned? Odd how? Was it like a twister from somewhere near the middle that swept over the place, or was it one one side? Like a wave crashing over rocks?”

The halfling thought for a moment, "Well, I don't think it was a twister. Everything else was burned down as if by torches, however the center of town looked as if the sun had fallen down in that area. It was a perfect burned circle. That's what made it odd, and the corpses there were completely fried, except the children, those broke away and there were embers left inside. That's kind of odd, don't you think? Oh, and there is a giant banner in the middle of town made out of fire." He flicked over, "I'm pretty sure they aren't that far, in fact the next village is only an hour away and there isn't any smoke yet. Someone should warn them I guess, but we never could in time. Oh well."

Nodding, Reise pulled the fried egg onto a slice of crusty bread so he could eat and pace. “That is very odd, I agree,” he said thoughtfully. “Like the sun, in the center of town... Then their’s the thing with the children, as if they were ‘spared’,” he went on. “This doesn’t strike me as your typical “March to the Sea.” Reise chewed a mouthful. “Whoever this is, this is fanatical work. Meticulous and planned, the banner is obviously a message or a calling card.” He paused and chewed his food. “Did you say the two that were burned were neighboring villages or were they both seemingly chosen at random?” he asked, licking some yoke off his finger before going to his bag for a map. “Can you show me where they were? This is probably unrelated to the quest we're on, but you never know how one thing connects to another.”

“Ain't that the truth,” the halfling with the fake beard said.

“Do you think this could be the work of demons?” Orla asked, aware there were hordes of them in Dalen and seemingly of every type and variety. “I don’t know much about demonkind, but I'm not sure this is like something any of them would do.”

“I agree,” Reise said, sitting again. “It's too...hmm...calculated for demons? I don’t know if that’s the best word for it. It seems like a purge Iron Queen style, and not like a hunt.”

The halfing pulled out a map, taking out a bit of charcoal he drew a path that went from town to town. "Here is their path, started in a ruined section of Dalen. I do think they had a familiar banner, let me just pull it out." He pulled out a bag and began to pull out several pages and scrolls, all of which spoke of the history, mythos, and religions of Aeran, he pulled out a large scroll. "Aha, there it is." He showed them the symbol, below it read one name, "Incarius."

Severos, who as usual was paying little attention, suddenly shot up to his feet. “Demons?!” he said, overhearing Orla. “That shadow demon took the Mortith! We need to get it back before they let him out!”

“Will you calm down? It's too early for all this yelling,” Reise said irritably. “We’re going to get that stupid book back, and find someone to unscramble your noggin if it’s the last thing I do,” he said pinching the bridge of his nose before turning back to the halfling. “Sir, you were saying something about an ‘Incarious’ but that symbol isn’t demonic. Pray tell, what language is that?”

The halfling looked at the symbol, "Do you not know him? This is Incarius, the Archangel of Flames. This is a celestial symbol. You know, Incarius, the one who brings down the wrath of the God of the Sun. The Golden One, nemesis of Soularous?" He looked at them puzzled, "Oh, did you say a book? Well I one time saw this shadow guy give a weird book to some white haired guy with red eyes. It was not long ago, and it happened here in Dalen in fact. But both are long gone now. Both up to no good, wherever they are, I reckon..."

“You saw that, did you?” Reise shrugged. “Interesting. As for this Sun God, I don’t pay much mind to silly stories like that. He’s no God of the Sun. Trust me, I’ve met gods, several of them in fact.”

“Have you now?” the halfling said, regarding Reise with amused fondness.

“Yeah, I actually have. Usually pretty decent to deal with, like a certain goddess in a certain forest, but this ‘Incarious’ is just a fancy man with fancy tricks up his sleeve. That's all.”

"Oh, if you think so, that's up to you. Just wanted to warn you that Incarious might be going crazy, ever since his god seemingly disappeared, like a puppy left alone in a fragile room you could say." He took a bite of his eggs, "Whatever the reason, the Archangel is murdering hundreds of innocents and taking the remains of children, for what reason? Not sure. However, it can't be good. No, that doesn't sound good at all."

“Even more reason to hunt down an old friend of ours who knows a thing or two about this kind of stuff,” Reise said, “Just finding where to look is the puzzle that still needs to be solved.”

"I've been on the road for a bit, you might find someone to help you stop this ray of insanity. You could say they are more about balance than anything, however it's an educated guess with that assumption." He shrugged, "Also might help with your book obsessive friend. She's been around a long time. Practices a forbidden art, but uses it for good and not evil."

“That sounds like it might be... you-know-who,” Orla murmured, glancing at Reise.

Reise cocked an eyebrow. “Very much sounds like her. Hope she remembers us.”

The halfling began to pack up his things, "Well, I wish you all luck on your travels, but I should get going. Be cautious when following the sun, it might burn you. Also, don't forget my last warning, sometimes graveyards contain very sleepy lords."

He put everything in his backpack, except the scroll of Incarius, which he offered to Reise, "Here, borrow this. When that time comes, it will have its uses. I expect you to give it back."

The halfling left the group shortly after, as he turned around a corner, his body changed into that of a tall being in a white cloak, a glowing crown on his head. Then, in a beam of white light, he was gone.