DARL
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:29 pm
Darl has been travelling the wastelands looking for lost treasures. Having narrowly evaded capture by a demon ambush he started the return journey to Chisel Town to have a few words with the fool that told him about the elusive riches. Long before he gets within site of the city, though, he spies a band of demons heading roughly the same direction as he. His attempt to follow the demons without being seen works for some time; but he is eventually spotted and a demon is sent out to put an end to Darl's meddling.
Things don't go quite as the demon planned as Darl first confuses him with words of an ally and then with careful use of magic. Darl discovers, in his guise as an ally, that the demon band he has been trailing is on a task for Salome. In the demons befuddled mental state he did not stand a chance against the magic bolts of the hero. Examining the body, Darl finds little of value with the exception of a small metal token with unusual markings around the edge and an enameled black circle adorning the middle. The reverse side is smooth.
Having finished off the demon, Darl continues his pursuit of the rest of the demon party. As it turns out, they weren't actually heading towards Chisel Town but veered towards demon territory and headed straight into a small mining town some distance towards the demon territory side of Chisel Town. Darl gets there just in time to see the last of the demons vanishing through temporal rifts. The crackle of the closing rifts can be faintly heard from the top of the hill where Darl sits watching in disgust.
After deciding that there's no sense in just sitting on top of a hill, Darl makes his way towards town to see what help he can offer. A militia of guards and townsfolk are more than happy to "escort" Darl to a priest that appears to be in charge. The priest, Brother Tobius, is mistrustful of Darl's intentions but gives him leave to help out where he can. Before he makes his exit, another priest and a rather beautiful young woman, a woman in form, anyway, with a flowing nebula of wispy, gauze-like and ephemeral streamers emanate from her giving her a brilliant and beautiful halo. The girl, Darl reassesses her age, stops and looks straight into Darl’s eyes. Even from this distance Darl can feel a "pull" as if somehow his destiny is tied to hers.
Having been dismissed by Tobius, Darl takes the opportunity to check out the Cathedral building that seems to have been a focus of the recent hostilities which, coincidentally, is where the girl just went. The wooden portions comprising the upper stories and spires are burned and mostly destroyed. The fire has been extinguished, but damage is done and non-Wormwood portions are unsalvageable. Finding little else of interest in what remains of the lower levels of the building and not being able to get to the girl without being obvious, Darl makes his way to the triage area to lend a hand for as long as his healing stone holds out. To his chagrin, this is turning out to be a very unprofitable few days for Darl.
Darl uses his healing stone until the power is depleted. While doing so, he notices a man taking care of a horse nearby. Judging by the gear stored on the animal, it's apparent that this man is also not from around here.
Not being much use to the priests in the triage now that his healing stone is depleted, Darl excuses himself and wanders over to the burial site of the demons where a WormSpeaker is chanting. Wormwood sucks the dead bodies into the ground in cadence with the WormSpeaker's rhythmic voice. Once again, Darl has missed out on an opportunity to come up with anything profitable.
Still looking for some way to salvage something out of this trip, Darl heads back in search of Brother Tobius hoping that he'll at least have someplace to sleep for the night. On his way back to the temple he notices the same girl from before talking with three men, one of which is the horseman he noticed earlier. As he approaches within earshot he hears one of the men tell the man with the horse that the high priest has asked the small group to recover a stolen item that disappeared during the demon invasion. His mind races, wondering just what the small town had been hiding ... but whatever it was, the knowledge that Salome considered it valuable enough to raid the village was enough for him to want to stick around and find out more ... let alone the chance to actually recover it himself.
With a gleam in his eyes, Darl approaches the group and says "So ... just what is this little gem we're supposed to go recover, anyway?"
Things don't go quite as the demon planned as Darl first confuses him with words of an ally and then with careful use of magic. Darl discovers, in his guise as an ally, that the demon band he has been trailing is on a task for Salome. In the demons befuddled mental state he did not stand a chance against the magic bolts of the hero. Examining the body, Darl finds little of value with the exception of a small metal token with unusual markings around the edge and an enameled black circle adorning the middle. The reverse side is smooth.
Having finished off the demon, Darl continues his pursuit of the rest of the demon party. As it turns out, they weren't actually heading towards Chisel Town but veered towards demon territory and headed straight into a small mining town some distance towards the demon territory side of Chisel Town. Darl gets there just in time to see the last of the demons vanishing through temporal rifts. The crackle of the closing rifts can be faintly heard from the top of the hill where Darl sits watching in disgust.
After deciding that there's no sense in just sitting on top of a hill, Darl makes his way towards town to see what help he can offer. A militia of guards and townsfolk are more than happy to "escort" Darl to a priest that appears to be in charge. The priest, Brother Tobius, is mistrustful of Darl's intentions but gives him leave to help out where he can. Before he makes his exit, another priest and a rather beautiful young woman, a woman in form, anyway, with a flowing nebula of wispy, gauze-like and ephemeral streamers emanate from her giving her a brilliant and beautiful halo. The girl, Darl reassesses her age, stops and looks straight into Darl’s eyes. Even from this distance Darl can feel a "pull" as if somehow his destiny is tied to hers.
Having been dismissed by Tobius, Darl takes the opportunity to check out the Cathedral building that seems to have been a focus of the recent hostilities which, coincidentally, is where the girl just went. The wooden portions comprising the upper stories and spires are burned and mostly destroyed. The fire has been extinguished, but damage is done and non-Wormwood portions are unsalvageable. Finding little else of interest in what remains of the lower levels of the building and not being able to get to the girl without being obvious, Darl makes his way to the triage area to lend a hand for as long as his healing stone holds out. To his chagrin, this is turning out to be a very unprofitable few days for Darl.
Darl uses his healing stone until the power is depleted. While doing so, he notices a man taking care of a horse nearby. Judging by the gear stored on the animal, it's apparent that this man is also not from around here.
Not being much use to the priests in the triage now that his healing stone is depleted, Darl excuses himself and wanders over to the burial site of the demons where a WormSpeaker is chanting. Wormwood sucks the dead bodies into the ground in cadence with the WormSpeaker's rhythmic voice. Once again, Darl has missed out on an opportunity to come up with anything profitable.
Still looking for some way to salvage something out of this trip, Darl heads back in search of Brother Tobius hoping that he'll at least have someplace to sleep for the night. On his way back to the temple he notices the same girl from before talking with three men, one of which is the horseman he noticed earlier. As he approaches within earshot he hears one of the men tell the man with the horse that the high priest has asked the small group to recover a stolen item that disappeared during the demon invasion. His mind races, wondering just what the small town had been hiding ... but whatever it was, the knowledge that Salome considered it valuable enough to raid the village was enough for him to want to stick around and find out more ... let alone the chance to actually recover it himself.
With a gleam in his eyes, Darl approaches the group and says "So ... just what is this little gem we're supposed to go recover, anyway?"