Editing The Garden of Ehnkieridian (section)

==Part Two==
Things went on as they had for some time. The quest that the party had put on hold to pursue the Garden resumed. The Cleric remained quiet and detached. The party was concerned, but their consternation was lessened over time. The Barbarian remained the "leader" of the group, often deferring to the Druid, Ranger, and Sorceress for their cautious, former Cleric-like nature. The details are unnecessary, but it's worth mentioning that there was a struggle between two groups over the inheritance of a kingdom. Neither good, neither bad, but both tried to enlist the help of the party. Eventually, prince they had sided with mildly betrayed them in a gambit to gain leverage, and the party retaliated by switching allegiance. The intelligence they had gained about their former employer would be invaluable, and so the betraying faction sent men out in an attempt to intercept the party.<br>
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For the time, the party's quest seemed quite simple. Get to the capitol city and rendezvous with their new faction's contact. The road ahead was long, and there was a large town still ahead to be crossed before they would reach the capitol. As they made camp at a crossroads, the Sorceress, very hesitantly, points out there is a short detour they could make here that would take them back to the town they had liberated from the whispers. Everyone turns to the Cleric.<br>
The Cleric remains silent.<br>
The party does not know, but suspects that the Betrayers may be tracking them and are mindful of their pace to their objective. They resolve to stay on the shorter course, and forget about that town and all it's bad memories. Ironically the Barbarian supports this course of action on the grounds of forgetting their encounter while still wearing Ehnkieridian's massive helmet of skeletal hands over his own helmet.<br>
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As the party sleeps, the Cleric attempts to slip away, intent on the detour, and is caught by the Rogue. She alerts the party, and while the Cleric would make this journey alone the Rogue insists on accompanying him. The party worriedly consents to his departure at dawn with the accompaniment of the Rogue. They will arrive ahead of them at the town ahead and wait for them there for three days, at which point they will re-join, and continue to the capitol.<br>
The Cleric and the Rogue's journey to the town is quite uneventful, and uncomfortably quiet for the Rogue. She makes several reserved attempts to find out why the Cleric wishes to go back to the place, along side voicing some sincere concerns for him. The Cleric is appreciative of her efforts, but answers no questions. They arrive to find the town thriving, already much improved from its former state. The townsfolk were happy to meet two of the people responsible for the continued growth. None would say where Malovahn was, however. After a short time the two went to see the Mayor, who greeted them warmly. He regretted to inform the Cleric, however, that Malovahn was dead. He died not long ago, and the entire town mourned his loss. He had, however, left the party's members in his will, and while most of his possessions had been auctioned off, the proceeds given to charity, there were some specific items left to the individuals who freed the down of the unknown influence.<br>
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In particular, a sealed letter was given to the Cleric.<br>
Upon reading it, the Cleric stared unnervingly at the Mayor. <br>
"What are you not telling us."<br>
The Mayor shifted uneasily, hesitating.<br>
Malovahn had hung himself.<br>
Again, as he had once before, he quashed all further questions by politely excusing himself as he had a meeting to attend. He encouraged the group to see Ranger Kalen for more details. Kalen was not hard to find, but he was reluctant to go into details. As the law of the kingdom dictated, a suicide was to be buried in unhallowed ground, and Malovahn was buried at the edge of the Whispering Woods, not far from here. Both the Rogue and Cleric could see that the man was uncomfortable talking about it. This time is was the Rogue who asked what the Ranger wasn't telling them. He started babbling about how bodies are often dug up that far from the town by wild animals when he ended the conversation by telling the two it probably would be best if they just visited the grave themselves.<br>
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They found the grave defiled, but they both saw something was horribly wrong.<br>
The grave had been dug up, but there were no animal tracks at the grave, no tool marks whatsoever, and the only surviving tracks were leading away from the grave into the woods.<br>
The grave had been clawed open from inside.<br>
The only foot prints from it led into the woods, towards that dark keep.<br>
The Cleric regarded this coldly, and said nothing. The Rogue's trepidation had her fearing for their lives. "What does this mean?" she asked. "I don't know," replied the Cleric. The Cleric started down the rough path towards the keep when the Rogue took his arm and begged him not to go back to that place. "Leave it behind you." <br>
The Cleric stood there staring into the woods.<br>
<br>
He stood there for a long time, the Rogue still pleading with him. And then he turned away. He walked to the grave and cast Malovahn's letter into it before turning to the Rogue. "Let's go back, there's nothing left for us here." They both started walking down the path they came from. <br>
The Rogue did manage to see the letter. <br>
All it read was "I understand now." <br>
"Perhaps, in death, you will understand."<br>
The two's detour had been planned out quite well with the main group. Without any kind of delay, the main group would only have to wait two days at their town. If the two moved expediently they might even have meet up with the main group before they reached the town. <br>
But they never arrived.<br>
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The group waited for five days in the town for the Cleric and the Rogue. They started down the path they had taken. Not far from the crossroads the group found a solitary knight wearing the insignia of the betraying faction, standing in the middle of the road. Restraining the Barbarian, the group advanced slowly, and alert.<br>
The knight waited patiently for them, and when they were within speaking distance he said plainly "We have captured your Cleric and your Rogue. I will take you to them now. They are being held in an abandoned mine not far from here that our prince has been using to conduct operations from-" Once again restraining the Barbarian, the knight continued at a somewhat more hurried pace, but regarded the Barbarian with amusement. "If you arrive at the mine without me, one of your friends will be killed and the other spirited away. If you arrive at the mine and I am restrained, injured, or otherwise under duress one of your friends will be killed and the other spirited away, probably to some other hideout until we can figure out how to properly negotiate with you to some mutually beneficial understanding and return your people to you." The group was caught off guard.<br>
<br>
They politely excuse themselves from talking distance, the knight tells them to take their time. The group is unsure how to proceed, and for a time entertains the idea of forcing the knight to reveal the location of the mine, storm it and atleast try to recover one of their group, as they could revive whomever was slain should they not act fast enough. Cooler heads prevail in dismissing this risky course of action. They know nothing about the size of the mine or the number of guards they would have to deal with, or even if the body of their friend would be left behind or recoverable. Reluctantly they agree to let the knight take them to the mine.<br>
To everyone's horror, what they find is a slaughter. Seeing the large gate into the mine broken apart and the guards outside gruesomely mangled, the knight quickly rides off alone, leaving the group to slowly advance through the mine.<br>
Their course of action would have been wise, this mine was no outpost but a full on military garrison. Working through the mine the group found signs of heavy offensive magic what was left of dozens of well-equipped guards and mages.<br>
Many had their hands ripped off, and several had their faces removed or heads smashed, but the chief most common injury to them were their rib cages cracked open, and many had ribs torn out and tossed haphazardly through the mine. Some seemed to be partially stripped of their gear.<br>
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Finally they came to a prison, deep within the mine. searching through many empty rooms and cells they find a single barred cell occupied by the Rogue.<br>
The Cleric and the Rogue had been ambushed on their way back to the group, she related. They had been shackled to the wall of this barred cell, informed that they would be safely returned to their group, and would not be harmed provided they did not attempt escape. The Cleric would have none of it, and raged uselessly against his chains. The Rogue would unsuccessfully attempt to pick the locks that bound then, before unsuccessfully trying to sneak the key from a guard, and being caught. When the Captain of the garrison came to personally discipline her, threatening to beat her, the Cleric flooded him with insult to his honor, his staff, his garrison and everything he stood for.<br>
He struck a note with the Captain, who proceeded to stab the Cleric in the neck.<br>
<br>
The Rogue screamed and cried as she helplessly watched the Cleric quickly bleed to death. As the Captain left, thinking the Rogue was properly admonished against escape, they both froze as they heard the Cleric's chains rattle. The Cleric stood, shaking, and began to reach towards the Captain. Walking forward, his chains bent and snapped . Turning in horror to the Cleric he had just killed, the Captain and the Rogue watched as the Cleric began to mumble something before bending the bars of his cell open. The Captain fled the room shouting for reinforcements as the Cleric slowly walked after him.<br>
The Rogue was left alone, but was driven to frenzied attempts to pick her locks as the halls beyond soon filled with screams. Finally, after a length of time, there was only silence. More time passed, and the sound of heavy footsteps built approaching her cell. Still unable to escape, the Rogue screamed for the Cleric. <br>
He arrived, his vestments covered in blood, wearing pieces of tattered and broken armor, garlands of intestines, and most disturbingly a helmet that seemed to have been fashioned from severed hands.<br>
<br>
He walked slowly back into the cell, mumbling to himself, the Rogue uselessly trying to talk to him all the while. He hesitated for a moment before tearing off her shackles. While mumbling inconsequentially to her he mentions "I understand now." He then turns to leave, bending the cell's bars back in place before he does. Freeing her with a key taken from a dead guard, the group exits the mine, and begins to follow the path left by the Cleric.<br>
A path that leads them to the edge of the Whispering Woods, heading straight to the Keep that they had hoped never to return to.<br>
And that's all there is,<br>
For now.<br>

[[category:Stories|Garden of Ehnkieridian, The]] [[category:Dungeons & Dragons|Garden of Ehnkieridian, The]]