Turn 29 -- A Farewell?

Still grasping Gnore's hand, Beleg looks at the bodies of the orcs who were slain as they lay spellbound and helpless. He shakes his head sadly and says, "My friends, we have been part of a dishonourable deed. To kill these orcs as they lay helpless was not an act of justice but one of vengeance. While I grant you that they would most likely have been condemned to death for their actions, it was not proper for us to have acted until they had been given an opportunity to explain their actions. We must give our remaining captives the opportunity to do so! Furthermore, we should not increase our dishonour by adding torture to our list of transgressions."

Standing up, Gnore pulls his hand from Beleg's grasp and throws down the hand axe. "Do not impose your self-righteous morals upon me, human! I have seen many a dwarf in my village gutted by these filthy beasts whether my kin were helpless or not! Besides, torture is an orcish game that I learned so well from my enemy's constant raiding of my village. What is good enough for me to suffer is just as well for me to give. Talimar is our leader, not you! If he says stop, I will." Gnore finishes with a look to Talimar for his say.

Ras also steps up to support Beleg, "I hate these creatures as much as any of you but torture to any creature is not right. We should either put them out quickly like I did the others or bring them to town where I am sure they would just be hung anyways. I don't like killing a creature that is helpless any more than any of the rest of you but if we didn't finish them off the next traveller would surely perish at the hand of one of these truly evil creatures." He then turns to address Talimar, "What say ye Talimar? I don't think they know anything. We best make camp and be sure that we are able to protect our magic users better next time."

"I cannot condone torture," says Talimar sadly, "And in this case, I doubt it would do much good." Looking at Beleg and Gnore, he continues, "This argument is not going to get very far, especially after the fact," this last comment followed by a hard look at Ras, "While I do not condone murdering living beings while asleep, these were only orcs and they were trying to kill us from ambush without thought of parley. We would not have been able to release them or easily take them prisoner. But Ras, you should not have taken it upon yourself to slay them, I would have liked to be able to question all of them. We have a paladin and a cleric of the god of justice in our group. They would have received their justice."

Randor walks up to Gnore and speaks, "Tyr does not believe in torture. I will not allow it. However, I do suggest we awaken orc two, if this orc does not answer questions he will have to answer for his crimes and obviously be judged guilty and put to death. The other orc will certainly not want to face the same fate and will likely talk if his friend does not."

As Ras hears Randor mention killing these last orcs he turns to speak to Talimar, "If you do decide to kill the orcs I would prefer someone else do it this time, I have enough helpless blood on my dagger and there it will stay." With that Ras takes the dagger out of it's sheath and throws it into the tree next to the orcs he had killed earlier and walks away.

Not wanting to interrupt since he is the new guy, Garth clears his throat to get everyone's attention before speaking, "Now, I don't normally approve of torture, of either man or beast. While I could see being driven to it in extraordinary circumstances, I don't think this is one of them. Unfortunately for it, we have neither the resources to watch this creature or a guarantee of safety if we release it. Were it one of the goodly races we might accept its word and set it free or ransom it. I don't see any recourse but to dispatch it. It is only an orc, after all."

Upon hearing Talimar's opinion as well as those of the others, Gnore gives one last look at the orc and begins to walk away.

Beleg stops him once again and says, "I have no choice but to try and impose my morals on those with whom I come in contact, Master Gnore. I am required by oath and belief to share with all the virtues of justice, kindness and honesty and to intercede when such precepts are being violated. It is now clear to me that you have no desire to partake of these virtues. So I say to you and the rest of this company, the time of parting has arrived. Master Gnore can no longer suffer my presence, nor can I suffer his attitude and views. Therefore, it is clear to me that I must depart this company." Beleg then begins to gather his possession, strapping on his backpack and shield. Grabbing the reins of his faithful steed, Asfalof, he yells back, "Farewell! I wish the blessings of Forseti upon all of you." He then starts off in the direction of Milborne.

As Beleg begins to leave, Gnore gives a loud "Hmph!" and then walks the other direction of the great warrior, yelling over his shoulder that he will start his watch over the camp.

As the argument was raging between Beleg and Gnore, Druckner was sitting against a tree and recuperating from his wounds but when he hears Beleg's comments he rises slowly and calls after him, "Beleg, you say you have no choice than to try to impose your morals on those who you meet. By saying this you paint yourself in a corner. I cannot condone your intolerant attitude but I wish to convince you to stay. Consider what we have done so far." Gingerly taking a step toward Beleg, Druckner continues, "We have slain two marauding bands of orcs. We have slain or captured brigands. We have saved a young werebear. We think we have solved the problem of the New Mire; if we are successful we will have saved the livelihoods of all the farmers living below us. And finally, we are on a quest to find the girl Jelenneth's captors which are doubtless allied with these filthy orcs, and I have personally sworn an oath on my honour and my life to destroy their power. Given these accomplishments can you doubt that the Red Feather Company is a great force for good in this region? And the Red Feather Company dearly needs your strength."

Wincing from the strain of his speech, Druckner gathers his strength once more before continuing, "However, you must show more respect. I do not pretend to speak for Gnore but the Earthfolk's ways are ancient and honourable and I will not see you ridicule them. I have not forgotten that the first words you ever spoke to me were use to call me greedy. I still wish to be your friend though." The up-until-now plum red Druckner catches his breath and turns very pale before carefully sitting down, obviously tired.

Beleg pauses at the edge of the camp to listen to Druckner. As he speaks, Beleg shakes his head in wonder at the dwarf's words, "Friend Druckner, if I am painted into a corner as you say, then the painting was done not only by me but by my God and my Order. Furthermore, to my knowledge, I have never shown any member of this company any disrespect. I have always stated my views as honestly as possible. I have never belittled or ridiculed the beliefs of others. If I have done so, it was done unknowingly and I offer my heartfelt apology to all that have been offended." At this point, the large warrior removes his great helm and runs a large hand through his sweating hair, "I am a Paladin of Forseti, pledged to the God of truth and justice. I am sworn to take none as my companions who condone actions that are deceitful or unjust. Gnore's declaration in favour of torture is repugnant to me and more importantly, to my God. I see no future in trying to change his beliefs or yours for that matter, so I divorce myself from this company before hard feelings and resentment create dissention and ill will. I wish all of you good fortune. May the light of the gods shine upon you!" Placing his helm back on his head, he then once again turns toward town. Stopping at the edge of the clearing he shouts, "Farewell!"

Druckner gets up and shouts, "What about your oath to save Jelenneth?!"

Rasmussen steps up and shouts to Beleg, "Stop sir! If anyone should be banned from the group it must be me! I did the deed not your or anyone else." Ras' voice dies down as he continues to the rest of the group, "Though I have gained many friends and have enjoyed adventuring with you, I will leave if necessary and I will stand trial before Tyr if you wish for my deed."

Rasmussen then sits down and awaits the responses of the group.

Beleg returns to camp at the calls of Dain and Ras and takes a seat beside Ras and says, "Friend Rasmussen, your actions, though I regret them, are not the reason for my decision to leave this company. If you are comfortable with your companions, there is no reason for you to leave them. I do not wish to carry any of the money as I will be parting company with you all unless..." Beleg looks at Dain before continuing, "anyone has words that will ease my misgivings." Having spoken his piece, Beleg removes his backpack and pulls out his lute. He leans back against a tree and begins quietly playing a melancholy melody.

"I see no reason why anyone should be forced to leave the group. What Ras did made sense in a way. If we didn't kill them they would have awoke and attempted to kill us as we were tending our wounded." This last sentence punctuated with a sweep of his hand to acknowledge Druckner, Kre, and the sleeping Ortho. "As for the orcs here is what I have to say. We let them talk. If they do not tell us anything we will execute them by beheading by battle-axe to be carried out by one of our dwarves. I feel that punishment fits the crime and will also satisfy a slight bloodlust against racial enemies. For those that do talk we will strip them of weapons of which will be dulled and placed in a place high above ground. Then we will knock the orc who spoke unconscious. The orc will be able to climb the tree to get his weapons to defend himself against forest creatures but will not be able to come after us with his not so effective weapons."

"Do any of you disagree with this sentence?" asks Randor.

Talimar speaks up on the issue, "I cannot say that I like the sentence, it may leave the orc free to continue causing trouble. How about a trial by combat? I am sure there would be no shortage of takers to fight the orc."

Seeing that Gnore's 'interrogation' has come to naught and the party is embroiled in a bitter discussion of what to do about the orcs, Kersath takes matters into his own hands for once. He then draws his hood up around his head and walks to Talimar, telling him that he is going to try something that might get some information. He then asks for something from Talimar, who gives it to him. Slowly coming closer to the orc, Kersath removes his hood and reveals his jet-black skin and stark white hair. There is a sharp intake of breath from the beast and a loud guttural "Gulgok!" as it recognises Kersath's Drow heritage.

With a terrible gleam in his deep green eyes, Kersath addresses the orc in a low voice, almost whispering, but with a venom and menace that you never thought possible from the care-free elf, "Now, you snivelling vermin, you will tell us all we want to know or me and my little friend here," removing a vicious-looking dagger out of his boot, "Are going to have some fun dancing on your filthy belly." Speaking in an even lower voice, he whispers in the orcs ear, "And just so you'll know, maybe the dwarf will not chop off your fingers because of his laws, the paladin here and the rest of this group; but me, well I'm a different case altogether. You see, they do not control me. They're afraid. So I have no compunction's about chopping off your fingers. In fact, I was taught as a kid a very nice technique of carving fingers into funny shapes. Do you want to see?" He then takes out his dagger and while doing that he 'drops' the ring to the ground and says, "Well, what do you know, I dropped it." He then looks at the orc to notice any reaction upon seeing the ring taken from the goblins.

The orc appears to be unfazed by the appearance of the ring, apparently not recognising it. It simply begins to curse Kersath even more vehemently than it did Gnore, ending it's tirade by spitting in the face of the dark-elf. Kersath slaps the beast across its face with the back of his hand. The orc simply turns and gives a wicked smile to him, a trickle of blood coming from the corner of its mouth.

"These beasts have nothing to offer," says Kersath angrily, "Enough with this, Randor, pronounce sentence."

Randor moves to stand before the orc and bringing forth his holy symbol of Tyr begins speaking, "You orcs, having committed crimes against this assembled group by attacking us unprovoked have been found guilty by me, Brother Randor Skycastle, Hand of Tyr. And by his guidance I find thee guilty and sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately." With that, Randor gives a nod towards Gnore who comes over and grabs the orc and drags it over to a fallen log, the orc screaming curses at Randor, Gnore and the entire party the whole time. Gnore places the orc on its knees over the log and raises an axe that he borrowed from Druckner.

Dropping the axe mightily, he severs the head of the orc, the body of the beast flailing around as muscles twitch before going limp. The second orc fails to give any information as well and then meets the same fate as its companion. Gnore smiles as the second orc body ends its moving, "It's over now, justice has been done." He then walks over to where Beleg sits and looks at him.

"There is an old saying in my village about humans, 'To humans, nothing is done the right way unless it is done the human way.' Throughout my wandering, I have found this to be largely untrue until you grabbed my hand. I would not have minded so much if you had bellowed at me to stop or even used your sword to block my strike. I will not allow anyone to grab me if I do not want to be grabbed. Still, I will try to understand why you did it and let this matter set where it may. I did intend to cut the fingers off of that orc but, as I said to you, I would defer my actions to the wisdom of our leader. Talimar said to stop and I did. I protested but I did obey. The friction between us may never be settled but I do not care. I made a promise, as part of this group, to rescue the girl apprentice and I will do so. I consider it a matter of honour to see this through. No matter what hardships may befall the company I am willing to endure it because I gave my word to help find the girl and a dwarven promise is an unbreakable bond except in death; even then, who knows. I ask that you also endure hardships on this road the company treks not only for your word of honour you gave as part of the group but because rescuing an innocent girl is right and just." Gnore finishes and walks away to take up his patrol on watch.

Dain leans over from his sitting position to speak to Beleg, low so that only he can hear, "Hear me out. I know the dwarves are a little rough around the edges but they really do mean well. The questioner knew that he probably wouldn't get away with the torture thing but he tried it because that is how things are done in his homeland. Now for myself, I feel that torture is wrong and as for Ras' actions I believe that he knows now that what he did was wrong." Dain looks at Ras and seeing no response, continues, "All I ask of you is to simply talk to the dwarves one more time. But this time, allow either Talimar or I to be a moderator. I hope that out of that experience we can forge a code of behaviour that all of our group member can live by. What do you say...Friend?"

Beleg looks at Dain for several moments before speaking, "I will wait through the evening friend. I do not believe there is anything more to say, but I will pray this evening and render my decision in the morning."

After awakening from his wound-induced sleep, Kre listens to everyone's side of the issue. Not wanting to be a part of any debate, Kre closes his eyes and dreams of one day finding his father. When he awakens and hears about Beleg's proposed departure, he moves to speak with the warrior, "Beleg, I know that you and I haven't ever really gotten off on the right foot but I do believe that you are needed to help us in our quest. I'll admit, I mainly came along with the Red Feather Company because it seemed like a great way to make some cash without getting into too much trouble but now, I have another reason. The Red Feather Co. has become my friends, the gods know I don't have many and I want to see us do the best we can for this world and its inhabitants, besides," he says with a quick grin and a wince of pain, "There might be a good reward. The way I see it, you need us and we really need you." After his speech, Kre goes to sit back down and rest some more.

Waking from his nap and seeing that Beleg has returned to camp at least, Druckner smiles and starts whistling to himself as he prepares his bedroll. He then turns to Talimar who had just suggested the group staying the remainder of the afternoon and the evening in order to rest up and heal themselves, "The only thing I ask is that we move a bit away from these orc corpses."

He then moves over to speak to Garth as he makes his preparation for camping, "Hello Garth, I'm Druckner Brombreath, son of Alizor Brombreath the trader and adventurer, you might have heard of him?" He takes a pause and raises an eyebrow quizzically, "No? Well, no matter, happy to meet you. I must admit I have one question. How come you have such good timing? We're pretty far from a road here."

Garth looks at Druckner a moment and then smiles heartily, expecting at some point to be asked such a question, "Friend Druckner, I was travelling from the south on my journey to preach the ways of our Lady Selune. I was heading north to the town of Milborne and decided to forego the use of the road to the east as it would have taken me several days out of my way. Instead I decided to head straight north across these hills as the terrain is not that difficult to traverse. Lucky for you the Lady Selune had guided me to this course!" This last he says with a quick smile.

"Aye, lucky indeed," says Druckner.

At this point everyone settles down to make preparations to camp here overnight once again. The bodies of the dead orcs are moved some distance away, downwind of course. As the hour is fast approaching noon, food is brought out and the wounded and resting are quickly fed as they wake to realize how hungry they all are. Gnore, Beleg, Ras, and Garth set about making the camp more defensible in case of further attacks while Kersath sets out to scout the surrounding area. The watches are set and begin earlier as usual as all tensions are running high, and not just from the earlier attack! As the afternoon passes, the group passes time either sleeping or listening to the lilting melodies that come from Beleg's lute, many contemplating if this evening will be the last they hear his wonderful playing. Shortly before darkness falls, Kersath returns to report that there are no signs of any other orcs or other creatures in the surrounding area.

With that, the group settles in for the evening, wondering what Beleg's decision will be on the morrow. Many also wondering the fate of the group as a whole.