Call to Action

JP with Winteroak, Alexis, Gonyaul, Hunter, Nicolaus:

Markus had been working throughout the day and well into the night. Preparations had taken longer than expected. Final consignment of weapons were now loaded and ready for Balt and his men to deliver them to the warbands.

As the master blacksmith and Balt were about to call it a night he realised that two men were coming to see him. The Apotechary and the young man that was travelling with the Arbiter.

Hunter greeted Markus along with Nicolas. He waited to see what Nicolas had to say on the matter.

Gonyaul was exhausted and he could already feel his muscles groaning at him when he was greeted by the night sky. The fresh air was invigorating and gave him the boost he needed. The fact that Alexis and Gonyaul were still moving, let alone wanting to go back down into the depths, was a testimony to their grit.

Gonyaul didn’t know where Markus was; however, Alexis did. And the moment she pointed it out and started leading them in that direction she would hear a clamor behind her. When she would turn to look she would see all the gear, save voah’s sword Gonyaul was carrying, on the ground. A blur ran past her. Gonyaul was in full sprint to the forge.

He burst into the forges working area and looked desperate to find someone that looked like they were in charge. He didn’t remember Markus very well. He was lacking his usual patience and was uncharacteristically distraught. He was urgently and loudly speaking, trying to draw the attention of someone who could help.

“Etebus o ihsiet usamihs. Voah ot Tarmen ag nesamira. Ihcatihsataw aw ami aberekanaki nesamiran. Ekusat ag yustihō. Nojnad aw areros o etebat edonuri, ukayahekaduriked okos in aberekanarodom nesamiran.”

The looks he received were ones of surprise and confusion. What was wrong with these people? He realized he wasn’t speaking the right language and tried again.

“Darkness cave eat Voah and Tarmen. Need help! Go back now, right now!” The intensity and intentionality he exhibited showed that whether they helped or not, Gonyaul would move mountains to make this work.

He thrust the sword of Voah up into the air to add validity hopefully to his claim.

Markus cursed loudly. He had talked to Balt to late about the dangers of the caves. He had been the one asking for help and now felt he was to blame. Not to mention who seemed to be in danger. The guy Sir Zane sent over to be in charge of the soldiers and the bloody Arbiter. He felt a migraine come on trying to work out how to make sense of the young man's statements. He looked at Alexis.
"What happened exactly?"

Alexis laid a hand on Gonyaul’s shoulder, and delivered them a more understandable and to the point rapport of what happened. The ancient structure. The winding tunnels.
Voah and Tarmen getting paranoid and aggressive over a felt threat that neither Gonyaul or Alexis could sense.
Finding a few trinkets.
The waterfall room.
Tarmen and Voah gone when they returned from speaking at the waterfall.
Moving on and finding Voah‘s sword.
The sprawling cavern beyond with no hint to follow and no way to navigate.

Almost as an afterthought, Alexis handed them the items they had found in the building. They had been laying around in the big chamber with the spike pit. While Alexis couldn’t have cared less about any loot, she had brought them along. Maybe they could help, somehow.

Gonyaul calmed little by little with each bullet point with Alexis’s reassuring hand. She was able to deliver the news accurately and effectively in a way he would not have been able to. He was studying each person within ear shot of the information trying to assess how they were processing it. By his expectations, he was hoping for a swift and eager call to action.

Hunter listened to Alexis clarify what Gonyaul was trying to explain. Then he spoke up, “Since you both were able to make it back without losing your mind, it means Tarmen and Voah were exposed to something in the cave. Did they eat, drink or touch anything that you both avoided? It could have been a poisoned object or a plant or even mushrooms. I use plants to make my poisons. Some of them can also be used to torment the mind for interrogation. The doc here would know more on this topic than me.”

Something Voah and Tarmen might have come into contact with, that neither Gonyaul nor her did. It couldn’t have been something big, or it would have stuck to her mind more clearly.
But there was something tugging at the edge of Alexis’ memories.
It wasn’t easy to try and force herself to remember each and any detail in her exhausted state. But finally, she found something that might be it.

“There was this glowing mould that illuminated the runes right at the start. I am sure both Voah and Tarmen touched it when they inspected it, I even remember Voah washing it off. You just looked at it, right, Gonyaul?”

Gonyaul had not connected the dots that the mould caused the crazy down in the depths. Nor did he have any evidence to back up such a claim. He could only speak on what he knew was true.

Fortunately his childlike enthusiasm during the first half of their descent into darkness, where he was investigating and exploring everything keeping him in the rear of the group, gave him a voice in this matter.

“Yes. They both touched the glow marks. I no touch, not know what was.”

Hunter looked at Nicolas and asked, “It sounds like that glowing mould could have a mind altering toxin right Nicolas?

Gonyaul tugged on Alexis’s elbow. They had delivered. He whispered,

“I go get gear I drop. Come back and then we ready go. Yes.”

He handed Voah’s sword over to his friend. He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and left. He was on a mission and talking about it could be done while doing he felt.

Hunter looked at Alexis and asked, “Any particular supplies or helpers you think we might need?”