As we established at the end of the last session, at least Luke and Nadarresh (and possibly Aerandis or Theren) are going back to give a decent burial to the people of the caravan that we recently saw attacked by wolves.

Somewhere along the way, Luke asks Nadarresh to teach him his technique for attacking enemies on all sides at once.  Thereafter, he practices it often, adapts it to his own style, and makes it his own.

[Going up to 3rd level, Luke takes the encounter power called Sweeping Blow, which is a lot like Dire Wolverine Strike but does slightly more damage.]

To restate my intentions in Leigh's "mad libs" format:

Luke will travel to the caravan massacre site, and then the shrine of Wee Jas to bury the dead, and then accompany Nadarresh to free the souls that were apparently taken into the dagger.  He will return to the area near Brix in about 1 week? or however long it takes to accomplish the above to rejoin the party.

Loose ends:

Zarb Zarba -- Luke wonders what happened to him but isn't going to go searching for him, since he'd have no idea where to start.

The dagger -- Luke will go with Nadarresh to the shrine of Wee Jas and hope that the souls can be released there.

The wizards' guild of Holderness -- that seems to be the best lead to follow right now, and Luke would like to go to Holderness with whichever party members will be available next session.

Who is keeping tabs on us? -- Luke hates feeling watched and would love to kick the ass of whoever is doing that, but doesn't have much of any idea how to investigate it.  Perhaps it is someone in the wizards' guild of Holderness?

Luke is curious about these things that the Path messenger was carrying.  He thinks, "Maybe I should see what these things are so I can make sure they get to whoever they were going to."

But then he reconsiders: "Maybe I'm just indulging my own curiosity by opening seals and locks to things that are none of my business.  I must make sure my idle desires don't make me pry into holy secrets that haven't been revealed to me."

Having difficulty deciding what to do, Luke determines to pray to Heironeous about it.  He puts the scroll tube, the box, and the key into his pack, and continues to work on burying the dead for now.  He will pray in the evening, when this work is done, and decide after that what to do.

[It's up to you, Leigh, whether Heironeous responds to this prayer in any way that Luke can detect.  If Luke gets any sense that he ought not to open the scroll tube or the box, then he will leave them shut but take them with him and plan to find a way to deliver them to some church official.  If Luke gets any sense of divine approval for his opening either of these things, then he will do so.  If he can't detect any response to his prayer, then on the following morning he will open the scroll tube and read the scroll before deciding whether to open the box.]

As Luke resumes burying the dead, he is startled by the bloodcurdling roar of Nadarresh.

[I'll head over to Nadarresh's thread to describe how Luke responds to him.]

Intimate personal effects abound but are probably best left to comfort the spirits. Luke picks up stray coin purses and loose change equal to 50 marks (GP) and 12 shrines (Eladrin GP) 75 silver coins were also found scattered among the corpses. Additionally one purse has a cache of shiny elven coins 5 platinum forests, 30 golden trees, and 40 silver leaf coins. The Elf went down fighting, he had a bloody silvered short sword in his hand.

After  a hard days work Luke rests by the fire eating dried fish from one of the wagons as he slips off into slumber perhaps Heironeous will provide guidance in his dreams?

Dream: Luke is standing on a high hill overlooking valley with a white walled city. Alabaster towers rise though  low lying mist and he finds his view flowing into a tower window high above the cloud obscured streets. An ageless woman wearing flowing gowns and the crown of an empress sits on a chair embroidering a pillow. She sticks her finger with the needle and a single drop of blood falls through the air and splashes on the floor. The drop soon becomes an ocean and Luke finds himself on a raft being tossed in a great deluge. The raft becomes lost in this endless ocean and after what seems an eternity of turmoil Luke is washed up on an island large enough for only one lone tree for shade. The ocean is utter calm and the scene is strangely silent. In the shade of the tree sits a box identical to the one found by Luke in the caravan.

Before he can approach the box he suddenly sits up wide awake to the smell of cooking bacon . It is mid morning and Nadarresh is cooking an enormous slab of bacon over the fire.  "Best not to waste it"  it is the only comment necessary.

((Voice from the sky says "no making me decide for you"))

The parchment is neatly rolled and sealed in Gold flecked wax with the holy symbol of Heironeous. The calligraphy is impeccable and written in blue silvered ink. It reads:


Arageth,

As it seems you have not been able to identify this  Bartholomew whom our good lady had recommended. I think we have no choice but to pay the ransom.  Perhaps His faith is not as profound as she may have believed. In any case R’s men seem to have stopped their search for her and her studies have progressed impresivly.  The messenger’s case contains enough platinum to pay the brutish thugs as long as they have not defiled the rod, have the messenger return it to the temple in Holderness. I trust you can arrange the exchange. The path’s service to the church is as always appreciated.

The Grand vizier of Heironeous , His majesty Balamaster the wise.

(("Bathalamule" spelling corrected to Bartholomew to avoid confusion. Sorry. Luke would know of Balamaster a prominent leader of the church of Heironeous from Shattered Bridge. The Caravan was heading west to Brix. Not having the appropriate skills trained (or listed as trained either way heh) Luke is unsure who Arageth might be but its a safe bet that he is also somehow involved with the church. As to who R or the good lady may be, we know from this letter that R's men are or have been looking for the "good Lady;" these men havent found her and that she recommended this Bartholomew as someone who might be willing or able to help the church recover some item being held ransom. ))

((Danged forum ate my post.  Trying again.  Leigh, if it's doable without messing with whatever you've got planned for this Saturday, Luke wants to pursue this matter as soon as possible by going to Brix and talking to whoever's in charge of the Path there.  He wants to bring along the rest of the party for protection, if they're willing, since he's still paranoid about his fugitive status.))

Luke makes sure the case is locked.  His mouth has gone quite dry.  He takes a long drink from his waterskin.

"Nadarresh, do you have any idea what six severed hands in a circle mean?"