GERARD
GERARD
Gerard and his faithful horse, Zeke, have spent weeks wandering the hills and wastelands of Wormwood looking to help those less capable than him. Having resupplied in Chisel Town, Gerard once again heads towards demon territory. This time he heads towards a young mining town in the hills a number of miles towards demon lands. Still some miles from his destination he spots a group of travelles--women, children and a couple of men--heading the way Gerard had just come. Gerard decides to investigate and approaches the group cautiously.
After seeing a feverish young girl in the cart that they are pulling Gerard lowers his guard and offers to try to help the injured girl. As soon as his attention is focused on the girl, one of the men approaches quickly and attempts to hit Gerard over the head with his staff. Gerard manages to dodge the blow and sees the other man grappling with Gerard's horse. Gerard and the man with the staff watch each other warily as Gerard tries to talk the men out of doing something stupid. Gerard notices a heavily singed sleeve on the man's coat as the man ignores Gerard's attempts at peace and swings again…this time connecting in a brilliant shower of sparks. It becomes immediately apparent that the man's staff is no ordinary staff.
The other man, whom the first man called Harvey, continues to struggle with Zeke. Zeke is putting up a good fight, though, and the man can't seem to gain any ground in controlling him. Obviously he doesn't have any experience with horses. Taking advantage of Harvey's distraction and another wild swing and miss from the singed sleeved man, Gerard knocks Harvey flying with a well-aimed punch to the exposed ribs. He quickly hops on Zeke and with a few admonishing words for the two men he rapidly moves on down the trail.
A few miles further along the road Gerard starts seeing more travellers. It quickly becomes apparent that these aren't simple travellers. A couple of inquires rapidly reveals a picture common to this region. The town that Gerard was heading towards has been attacked by the Horde. The young, the sick and, in general, those that can't fight are heading to Chisel Town to find refuge and await word that it is safe to go home again.
When they left, the church temple was on fire and a large raiding party of demons was rampaging through the town. While getting the story of the events, a woman approaches and asks Gerard if he will pass word on to her husband, Ethram, who stayed to defend the town. She begs Gerard to find her husband and make sure he's safe. Promising to do what he can, Gerard continues on down the road towards the little town.
After some time, Gerard can see lingering smoke coming from up ahead as he continues on to the town. When he gets there, the fighting has ended and the task of dealing with the dead and wounded has begun. A patrol of church soldiers leads Gerard up to the church to talk to one of the clergy…an acolyte by the name of Brother Tobius.
Gerard ’s attention is drawn away from the acolyte as a four wheeled, all-terrain vehicle pulls up silently next to the temple. Out of the driver’s side steps a human man wearing the uniform of one of the church’s soldiers and out of the other steps a girl. A girl in form, anyway, as a flowing nebula of wispy, gauze-like streamers emanate from her giving her a brilliant and beautiful halo. The girl stops and looks at an inhuman man that's talking to the acolyte before continuing to follow the soldier into the temple. Just before she she enters, she stops and looks directly in Gerard’s eyes. Even from this distance he can feel a "pull" as if somehow his destiny is tied to hers.
Gerard shakes his head unable to shake the vision of the woman as she looked at him. "Now that is strange. Never knew I had that effect on the ladies." he says to himself quietly with a chuckle. With that he turns his attention back to the acolyte.
A tall menacing looking creature that had been talking to the church acolyte appears to abruptly finish his conversation and quickly steps around the man and heads towards the temple's main entrance.
At Gerard’s approach, the acolyte’s attention is drawn away from the departing man just as he seemed about to say something the quickly departing back.
"Excuse me brother, I met some people fleeing the town a-ways down the road and promised one of the ladies there I would try and find out what happened to her husband." Gerard explains what transpired along with the lady's name and her husbands to see if there is any information to be had. "Might I also ask who that lady was who just got out of the APC a minute ago and headed inside?"
The acolyte listens impatiently to Gerard and then introduces himself as Brother Tobius, second in command of this temple of the holy church and overseer of the affairs of the city. "I know Ethrem," he responds, "but I know not of his current whereabouts." Brother Tobius voice is formal but cool as is his stance and demeanor. Gerard gets the obvious impression that the good brother is distinctly not having a good day. "I would suggest that you check with the inured over there or the deceased over there." Tobius points to a wing of the small temple and then to a row of blanket covered bodies lining an open area at the far end of the temple. Both are the opposite direction of where the girl departed. "There were a number citizens taken in the raid, he may have been one of those."
"As far as the girl goes, she is the daughter of one of Father Malaki’s ‘guests’. The word guest is said with a large degree of disdain and it’s quite obvious that Tobius doesn’t approve of whoever they are. "Now, if there is nothing else you need of me, there is much to be done."
"Thank you for your time and sorry to be a bother, Brother. I'll head over to where the wounded are first as I hold hope to find Ethrem and deliver my message." With a slight bow of the head Gerard heads off in the direction indicated-- he still can't seem to shake the look of the woman or whatever she is.
Leaving Zeke by one of the buildings near the triage area, flags down an older boy in church clothes who says that Ethrem was treated by a nearby priest Gerard waits and watches as the priest presses a red stone against the chest of a woman with a deep gash in her side. Gerard sees the wound slowly stop bleeding and then miraculously close altogether.
Standing up, the priest sees Gerard watching and motions him forward. "Yes, Ethram was brought here in the company of a couple of other strangers to the town." The priest responds to Gerard's inquiry in a tired but friendly voice. "He had a large bump on his head but otherwise was unharmed. After a few minutes of rest and observation I sent him on his way to the temple to help clean up the mess made by the fire."
As Gerard is talking to the priest he sees a strange menacing looking creature, which had been conversing with Brother Tobius earlier, walk into the area and look around. The being pays special attention to an injured man being brought in on a litter who is complaining greatly about how he was going to die and how the pain was unbearable.
Thanking the priest for his time, Gerard heads up to the temple in further search of Ethram. He quickly learns that Ethram is upstairs helping salvage what can be salvaged. Go upstairs and calling out Ethram's name causes a man rummaging through the rubble in one area to raise his head and look in Gerard's direction. "I'm Ethram." He calls back and then flinches in pain. The man has a bandage on his head and scrapes on his knuckles but other than that seems no worse for wear.
Ethram is very pleased at hearing that his wife escaped town unscathed. "Thank you for taking your valuable time to let me know of her. If there is anything I can do to return the favor you have only to ask." The man shakes Gerard's hand in brotherhood and friendship almost before Gerard knows he's doing it. As Gerard turns to go back out, Ethram calls out to him "Would you mind carrying this crate of medical supplies to the priests in the courtyard with the wounded?"
Lifting the cream colored resin box with ease, Gerard proceeds back outside. Just as he is entering the triage area the beautiful and exotic girl that he saw enter the church earlier approaches. Belatedly Gerard notices that she is now accompanied by two men-at-arms that have the appearance of being travellers as well. As they spy Gerard one of the men calls out "Hail to you traveler, my daughter says she saw you earlier as she entered the church…"
After seeing a feverish young girl in the cart that they are pulling Gerard lowers his guard and offers to try to help the injured girl. As soon as his attention is focused on the girl, one of the men approaches quickly and attempts to hit Gerard over the head with his staff. Gerard manages to dodge the blow and sees the other man grappling with Gerard's horse. Gerard and the man with the staff watch each other warily as Gerard tries to talk the men out of doing something stupid. Gerard notices a heavily singed sleeve on the man's coat as the man ignores Gerard's attempts at peace and swings again…this time connecting in a brilliant shower of sparks. It becomes immediately apparent that the man's staff is no ordinary staff.
The other man, whom the first man called Harvey, continues to struggle with Zeke. Zeke is putting up a good fight, though, and the man can't seem to gain any ground in controlling him. Obviously he doesn't have any experience with horses. Taking advantage of Harvey's distraction and another wild swing and miss from the singed sleeved man, Gerard knocks Harvey flying with a well-aimed punch to the exposed ribs. He quickly hops on Zeke and with a few admonishing words for the two men he rapidly moves on down the trail.
A few miles further along the road Gerard starts seeing more travellers. It quickly becomes apparent that these aren't simple travellers. A couple of inquires rapidly reveals a picture common to this region. The town that Gerard was heading towards has been attacked by the Horde. The young, the sick and, in general, those that can't fight are heading to Chisel Town to find refuge and await word that it is safe to go home again.
When they left, the church temple was on fire and a large raiding party of demons was rampaging through the town. While getting the story of the events, a woman approaches and asks Gerard if he will pass word on to her husband, Ethram, who stayed to defend the town. She begs Gerard to find her husband and make sure he's safe. Promising to do what he can, Gerard continues on down the road towards the little town.
After some time, Gerard can see lingering smoke coming from up ahead as he continues on to the town. When he gets there, the fighting has ended and the task of dealing with the dead and wounded has begun. A patrol of church soldiers leads Gerard up to the church to talk to one of the clergy…an acolyte by the name of Brother Tobius.
Gerard ’s attention is drawn away from the acolyte as a four wheeled, all-terrain vehicle pulls up silently next to the temple. Out of the driver’s side steps a human man wearing the uniform of one of the church’s soldiers and out of the other steps a girl. A girl in form, anyway, as a flowing nebula of wispy, gauze-like streamers emanate from her giving her a brilliant and beautiful halo. The girl stops and looks at an inhuman man that's talking to the acolyte before continuing to follow the soldier into the temple. Just before she she enters, she stops and looks directly in Gerard’s eyes. Even from this distance he can feel a "pull" as if somehow his destiny is tied to hers.
Gerard shakes his head unable to shake the vision of the woman as she looked at him. "Now that is strange. Never knew I had that effect on the ladies." he says to himself quietly with a chuckle. With that he turns his attention back to the acolyte.
A tall menacing looking creature that had been talking to the church acolyte appears to abruptly finish his conversation and quickly steps around the man and heads towards the temple's main entrance.
At Gerard’s approach, the acolyte’s attention is drawn away from the departing man just as he seemed about to say something the quickly departing back.
"Excuse me brother, I met some people fleeing the town a-ways down the road and promised one of the ladies there I would try and find out what happened to her husband." Gerard explains what transpired along with the lady's name and her husbands to see if there is any information to be had. "Might I also ask who that lady was who just got out of the APC a minute ago and headed inside?"
The acolyte listens impatiently to Gerard and then introduces himself as Brother Tobius, second in command of this temple of the holy church and overseer of the affairs of the city. "I know Ethrem," he responds, "but I know not of his current whereabouts." Brother Tobius voice is formal but cool as is his stance and demeanor. Gerard gets the obvious impression that the good brother is distinctly not having a good day. "I would suggest that you check with the inured over there or the deceased over there." Tobius points to a wing of the small temple and then to a row of blanket covered bodies lining an open area at the far end of the temple. Both are the opposite direction of where the girl departed. "There were a number citizens taken in the raid, he may have been one of those."
"As far as the girl goes, she is the daughter of one of Father Malaki’s ‘guests’. The word guest is said with a large degree of disdain and it’s quite obvious that Tobius doesn’t approve of whoever they are. "Now, if there is nothing else you need of me, there is much to be done."
"Thank you for your time and sorry to be a bother, Brother. I'll head over to where the wounded are first as I hold hope to find Ethrem and deliver my message." With a slight bow of the head Gerard heads off in the direction indicated-- he still can't seem to shake the look of the woman or whatever she is.
Leaving Zeke by one of the buildings near the triage area, flags down an older boy in church clothes who says that Ethrem was treated by a nearby priest Gerard waits and watches as the priest presses a red stone against the chest of a woman with a deep gash in her side. Gerard sees the wound slowly stop bleeding and then miraculously close altogether.
Standing up, the priest sees Gerard watching and motions him forward. "Yes, Ethram was brought here in the company of a couple of other strangers to the town." The priest responds to Gerard's inquiry in a tired but friendly voice. "He had a large bump on his head but otherwise was unharmed. After a few minutes of rest and observation I sent him on his way to the temple to help clean up the mess made by the fire."
As Gerard is talking to the priest he sees a strange menacing looking creature, which had been conversing with Brother Tobius earlier, walk into the area and look around. The being pays special attention to an injured man being brought in on a litter who is complaining greatly about how he was going to die and how the pain was unbearable.
Thanking the priest for his time, Gerard heads up to the temple in further search of Ethram. He quickly learns that Ethram is upstairs helping salvage what can be salvaged. Go upstairs and calling out Ethram's name causes a man rummaging through the rubble in one area to raise his head and look in Gerard's direction. "I'm Ethram." He calls back and then flinches in pain. The man has a bandage on his head and scrapes on his knuckles but other than that seems no worse for wear.
Ethram is very pleased at hearing that his wife escaped town unscathed. "Thank you for taking your valuable time to let me know of her. If there is anything I can do to return the favor you have only to ask." The man shakes Gerard's hand in brotherhood and friendship almost before Gerard knows he's doing it. As Gerard turns to go back out, Ethram calls out to him "Would you mind carrying this crate of medical supplies to the priests in the courtyard with the wounded?"
Lifting the cream colored resin box with ease, Gerard proceeds back outside. Just as he is entering the triage area the beautiful and exotic girl that he saw enter the church earlier approaches. Belatedly Gerard notices that she is now accompanied by two men-at-arms that have the appearance of being travellers as well. As they spy Gerard one of the men calls out "Hail to you traveler, my daughter says she saw you earlier as she entered the church…"
Joe - Administrator