*The Night of Kindness, Pt. I*
Aric, Verget the 2nd, 838 ID
The heroes decide to check the progress and status of the Vandrakki barbarians to the North, so a small team of Gruulsh, Badger, Baro, and Ox teleport to one of the Teeth of Winter towers, opposite the fallen village of Tretcher. They discover that the place is indeed occupied, by remnants of the Wolf Tongue Tribe, and from the safety of the tower they launch a ranged assault across the river. Several structures are burned or destroyed, including the Piss Poor Abbot, and the Tongues and their wolf pets are unable to retaliate before the PCs make their return trip to the Ettenhead. Upon their return, the entire party splits up into a few groups to handle some tasks. Badger decides to get wasted on one of the casks he and Ox brought to the ruined stronghold, and so he sneaks up one of the old, broken towers and, in the guise of keeping 'watch', begins to imbibe.
Baro decides to seek recruits for the Ettenhead by visiting the Wizards Elite in Tarair, his previous home and assignment. He arrives to speak with the misshapen 'Breather' Bem, who informs the evoker that soon will be time for his trials, whether he wants to challenge towards the next circle or face challenges from beneath him. Bem says he'll speak with Commander Vhelok about sending some reinforcements for the PCs, and also that one minotaur General Sophosyne is dealing with an incursion to the North of various Vandrakki tribes who are running skirmishes on the Fourth Eidolorn soldiers stationed in the towns and cities closer to Shann territory. Baro decides to spend the rest of the evening in Tarair, until he can teleport and report back to his companions. Meanwhile, some of the other PCs have 'ported to Floivin Keep.
Lord Ballyhoo, however, decides to ride his steed southward, making the Keep by nightfall. En route, he passes a strange old woman who is constantly canting the phrase 'the king is kind'. Ballyhoo ignores the kook and rides on, attempting to make amends at the Seven Floods Inn, where he is only partially successful due to his charming character, singing voice and slinging a lot of money at the staff for a bottle of expensive wine.
Tault, Verget the 3rd, 838 ID
The next morning, Ballyhoo visits Teven the Worm, inviting him to move his shop up to the ruins at Ettenhead where there will eventually be more business. He encounters several ragged, pale children who are going door to door intoning the same phrase he heard the evening before: 'the king is kind'. One of them touches him, and he is himself transformed into some gibbering, mindless entity who repeats the phrase over and over...but is eventually rescued by Cmd. Hoary and Bishop Conniff, who removes the curse with divine magic. Unfortunately, there is not enough of this to go around, and the mysterious ailment is spreading at a rapid rate.
Back up North, Baro has returned to camp, to find that Badger has fallen, drunken off his tower roost, into a pile of rubble beneath. Captain Banghorn becomes irritated with the Third Eidolorn expat, and assigns him punishments, which Gruulsh is hesitant to carry out. Baro eventually tries to settle the score, and the party teleports into bedlam at Floivin Keep! They arrive at the Cathedral of Blades in the evening, to find the place is being overrun by these strangely cursed civilians. Those as of yet untouched have holed up in the church, but the party needs to get to Armory Square. Ballyhoo, now cured of the affliction, has ridden northward through Halehusk, Livenoak, and Littlewolf to warn those there that they must exodus to avoid the spread of the strange contagion! Of course, he stops for a brief row with Shayla, who was engaged in animal form with another beast... The bard does not seem to mind!
In the Keep, the PCs have assembled in Armory Square and are fighting off these strange hordes of locals, all babbling 'the king is kind' and seeming to affect those they touch while expressing the enigmatic sentiment. Hoary and Krennyk have the officers' barracks locked down, but a ring of soldiers is helping stragglers to safety. Gruulsh and Mudgol attempt to free up a number of soldiers trapped and struggling against the horde, but meet with only limited success. Eventually, they all make their way safely inside the barracks, but then the ogress Gusta, now free of the Floivin Penitentiary, charges the door to the barracks, howling 'The King is Kind!'
PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Ox
NPCs:
Beneficus Lon (human male): A pale, nervous clergyman of Eleste who worships at the Cathedral Blades, constantly shrouds himself in his vestments but appears to be quite gaunt and bald, with sharp grey eyes. Lon was left in charge of the Cathedral on the Night of Kindness, charged with the safety of those who sought sanctuary from the strange curse being passed around the civilians of Floivin Keep.
