"Yes, from this end, although we have done it otherwise. It is a test. Of courage. Of faith. Of character. We wish to find good men, and turn them into great men or shatter them. We are the refining fire. Gawain went to the Green Knight knowing it was his death, but honor forbad him otherwise. Men have charged machine guns for love of country and their soldiers in their platoon. Some few survive. A man walked to the frozen pole of his planet, and as he and his men faced death, they did not waver or whimper but rejoiced that they had taken the risk even though they had lost, but in truth they had not lost. A man held by his enemies jerks off his mask, and says "This is how an Italian dies." We are the Siege Perilous."

It points at the pool.

"Step through the pool. The Company would go with you, but they would not survive. Forget not the wisdom others have offered you."

PT

Tom steps through the pool.  Unless he arrives in a grand fireball or flash of light, he will be fairly surreptitious on arrival, attempting to take in his surroundings.  He will start as a simple traveler moving his way through the village.  If the social situation feels that this is not appropriate, then he'll ask for who is in charge instead.

You enter on the other side of a low hill south of the village.  A small motte and bailey fort is above you, but its not guarded except for a dog who sniffs in your direction, and then lays back down.

The field is full of green beans and some stumps.

You step over to the path, and enter the village by the stream.  Its a small place with perhaps fifty huts, and some more substantial buildings like the local tavern, Soa's which has a nodding seal on the wooden sign out front.

There is one single manor on the other hill north of town, and a small temple to the Lord of Justice and the Lady of Crafts.

In the midst of the village is a small statue of a dwarf named 'Polinax Magnus'.

A river and log slides and piers and a ferry make up the riverside. There is also a drinking shanty near the river, but it looks as if a good breeze would knock it over.

A girl walks up to you.

"Milord, are you the advance scout of a party of adventurers? We do hope so for we are being driven from our fields. My mother's inn is clean, and free of bugs, and we could offer a good deal to a party of adventurers who wish to have comfort rather than sleep in rainy tents."

PT

Tom looks around the town calmly.  The last thing he wants to do is come in all swagger and polish.  The 'moral decay' that the Crystal Sidhe mentioned really makes him think that someone here is responsible for whatever horrific thing is afflicting the village.

He'll silently pray again as he did with Bone Jarrer, asking the Lord if He might divine the intent and demeanor of those around him that he may know who to trust and who not to trust.

To the girl he answers, "Well I am a part of an adventuring company, but I am alas but a minor sage.  However, mayhap I can be of some limited help."

He will proceed to begin to go with her to the inn and ask questions of any who will answer about what they're facing, what it is called, what it is capable of, where it is and what it has done so far.

Anything he eats or drinks will be prayed over first to know if it is safe or not.  He'll be timely, so that if it is early enough in the day he will keep his questions short enough so that they don't have to go another night of this and so he doesn't have to sleep in the village.

You feel a keeness of insight settle over you. The villagers are worried and unsure. They are not sure what to worry about first...the economic strain or simple survival.

You do see one guy who looks clearly like 'antisocial punk', and one women who looks like 'causes trouble just to stir the pot' but no out and out evil. They mostly seem to be decent, if a bit greedy. And the greed is an elightened kind that knows its better to trade than steal.

The inn is run by a halfling but owned by the young girl's mother. The halfling is the only one in the community.  The tavern is filled with brightly polished brasswork, and marble checkerboarded floors, and on the bar is a wooden seal (animal) who blocks passage to the upper part of the bar.

The food is plain, and a bit skimpy.

"I'm sorry, sir, for the food. Right sorry. Its just we haven't been getting much here since the wild animal attacks. Wolves gone mad, y'see. Hard to farm when you might get eaten any minute, isn't it?" The halfling walks up to your table with your food. Its not as bad as he makes it out to be.

"He's a sage, Billy. Maybe he can help us." the girl says as she gets you a mug of well water.

"Eh, well, any help you can offer would be good. Lord Dalton sent out a letter for adventurers. He's pulling out his hair and talking to his ancestors every night."

You pray over the food and its wholesome.

PT

"One of the reasons I am here is an obscure prophesy talking about pillars of light and a pit of darkness.  Is there anything like that here? Some kind of dungeon that might be active again?  How long has this been going on for?"

Tom is definitely sure there is more than wolves here.  The company of the golden needle is pretty tough, so if they couldn't fight it, it had to be pretty powerful.  He is also very careful not to overestimate his strength.  Frankly, he's rather amazed that these people and the Crystal Sidhe think he can single handedly defeat this...whatever it is.  He's counting on the ring and more importantly a little divine aid.

Still, he does not take the Lord for granted.  God helps those who help themselves, so he intends to learn everything he reasonably can ahead of time.

"Well, in the woods, there are two pillars, I guess you could call them that. Two statues. Huge things. They're next to what we call the Mound of Ancient Days. However, my friend, you don't need to be peeking there. Its clear whats the problem. The Druidess in the wood, she don't like milord none. He spurned her, and we chopped her precious trees. Its not as if there aren't more trees around here than people by ten to one anyways."

Someone else snorts at a table nearby.

"Hundred to one maybe. We're deep in the woods here. You can walk three hundred miles to the Pirate Gulf and without reaching a clearing."

"Its five hundred."

"No, its three hundred, and thats a fact, Jimjoe."

"Quit embarrassing yourself...."

Billy laughs as the two others continue to snipe at each other.

"Oh, most of the year."

"It is said that in nature there is a balance to all things, but what people often forget is that people are a part of nature.  Intelligent life has just as much right to exist within that sphere as trees or wolves or owls.  There are multiple fulcrums of balance, but for a druid to turn the force of nature on people because a few trees have been chopped down is truly abrogation of her duties."

The moral stain seems a little clearer now.  Still, Tom is not entirely blind here. It could just as easily somehow be the Lord, pretending to be a druid and framing the druidess...though the odds are considerably less than likely at this point.

Regardless of who is actually behind it, the way forward is clear.

He obtains directions to this place.  If they're psychotically obsessed with it, he explains it is for his adventuring company.  He'll get as much details about the place as he can.

If it is close enough to reach in day light, once he has the details, he'll go.  If it isn't, then he'll stay the night, though he'll only sleep the one hour and pray for protection whilst he sleeps.  He wants to approach this place by day.

"Well, we know you're a sage now." Billy says. "I only wish the Druidess of Dirt would listen to you."  He then takes a few beans off his plate and uses them to make a map.

"Oh, no, sir, you wouldn't make it today. Won't make it tommorrow either. Its a good two days away." The young girl waitress says. They don't have much details about it as none have been to it.

The Halfling has been to it, but it was a long time ago, and he tells you this once he comes back into the room, and hears the conversation.

"Oh, aye, two huge menfolk statues. A man with a sword, a woman in a dress, and beyond them this great huge hill barren of trees, like a bowl turned upside down. And the two menfolk statues have their hands out blocking the way to the front door....I didn't like the look of the place. It felt...unwholesome."

PT

Tom prays silently to determine if the need is immediate or merely timely to set out for the mound.  If it is not immediate, he spends a few more hours talking with them, getting to know them, mainly trying to cheer them up and give them some form of hope, though giving no indication that he's the one who will take care of the threat.

He will retire early for the evening and get a room, seeking not to be disturbed.

He then begins to pray, creating 'hung' prayers in the Holy Symbol like he did with Caly.

He'll do the following:

1) Three prayers of calm (exactly like he did with Caly)

2) Three prayers of Healing (like the quicker cure but a little more comprehensive and thorough)

He'll rest for an hour, cast the rejuvination spell and then resume praying.

3) Three prayers of Armor (except taking longer to pray for it instead of using existing armor as a material component)

4) Three prayers of increased damage, like the prayer he said against Mengle when he shot him, but taking an hour instead.

Each of these prayers will take an hour and request that the Lord invoke them and store them in the Holy Symbol if he is willing.

Come the morning, Tom will make a similar prayer to the one he made when he started on the Road, as well as a general blessing of favor...

And go to fight the dark thing in the mound after he has 'moved on' from the town.

You feel significantly fortified, and the air around you is thick with potency and awareness.  You pray for a general blessing, and the day dawns bright and just a little cool...perfect travelling weather.

You make your way out of town, and along the track to the east, and see many fields with uncared for plants and stumps  of trees in the midst of fields. You do see one hut where a man is working, and when he sees you, he runs back inside to get his crossbow. You can tell because he comes out with it pointing in your general direction.

But he's the  last man you see. Instead, you see huts which are empty, in far scattered bits. Its clear that the land was logged, and then it was being turned into farmland, but the people were chased back to town.

You near the edge of the woods as the day wends it way to a close, and you hear up ahead the the howl of wolves, but somehow it seems discordant and out of tune.

PT

Tom will stay put for about an hour.  This is primarily because at this point he'd rather fight the wolves out in the open than in the woods, but if they stay where they are beyond that, he'll go ahead and go into the woods.

He'll test his night vision.  If he's got good night vision then he'll use that, otherwise he'll invoke a light spell.

He invokes one of the armor prayers.

If the wolves appear, he'll try one of the calming prayers.  He doesn't want to have to kill animals corrupted by her influence but if that doesn't work, he'll blow them away with the pistol, sword as secondary defense.

Night falls as you wait, and so you cast night vision and proceed into the woods.  The wolves close in, and you try to calm them, but the jagged pain and anger in their howls resists your efforts.

They attack.

One lunges out at you from behind a tree, and you get a quick snap shot at him, but his teeth rip into your left shoulder despite the armor. Without it, you'd probably have a broken shoulder. With it, he got a mouthful of blood and punched a half-dozen small holes in your hide.

Another wolf lunges, but is less clever and you're able to shoot it in the brain pan. It collapses at your feet. There are others around you about twenty feet away, but they dart from tree trunk to tree trunk as cover with unnatural cunning as they circle you.

PT

Tom immediately prays asking that the Lord heal the damage that the wolf did with the small holes.  He then invokes the prayers he made to the Lord earlier to increase his proficiency with the pistol, shooting at the wolves as they move from tree to tree.

He keeps moving forward as they try and surround him, attacking the ones between him and the Mound.  He keeps his awareness up at all times though.

If the armor runs out, he invokes the second armor prayer.

Healed, you press on, and kill one with a snap shot. They swarm you, and you beat back the attack.

You notice that the wolves have painful blisters with acrid smells rising from them on their shoulders and haunches. It looks patterned.

You beat off another ambush three miles later when a wolf leaps down at you from a pine tree.

The second armor spell goes up, and you hear wolves nearby, but no one confronts you.

And then you see twigs racing across the ground in front of you, and trees leaning down to block your path. Looking down you see roots lacing over your feet.

"Murderer!" You hear a female voice ring out through the trees, but where it came from you're not sure. Its like its echoed and re-echoed around you.

PT

Tom had not thought the very trees themselves would attack him, though why he thought this he does not know.  He immediately draws his sword and cuts through the roots, though he then immediately brandishes his holy symbol and 'turns' the trees and other things blocking his path.

"In the Name of the Lord God of Israel, Thou Shalt Not Block my path!"  And with that he begins to march forward.  He does so quickly and diligently, praying for the Lord to guide his footsteps whilst he presses forward further.

You chop at the roots, and step quickly.  A wave of energy flares about  you, but the oppressive greenness in the air buries it and you feel very alone.

"The trees and their Lady listen to me better than your god listens to you, priest." You see a woman standing in front of you, trees almost obscuring her with their branches.  But what you can see looks remarkably dirty.

She has bones in her hair, dust all over her, and her fingernails are cracked.

"And now I think your fate for venturing into my woods is to become fertilizer."

She begins to sing, and it sounds like spring.

A shuffling is heard all around you.

PT

Tom immediately throws up his mind shield and invokes the prayer of accuracy and armor.  He unleashes a load of lead in her general direction.  This does not feel like the pit of darkness beyond the pillars of light, so he does not yet invoke the ring, though he metaphysically pings with the Lord just to be sure.

What he does not do is waste witty banter with the woman.  At least he isn't going to, when, on a whim of inspiration, he begins to sing Onward Christian Soldiers.  Its his favorite hymn.  He shoots her while moving forward.

He is aware that the trees themselves are potentially hostile at this point and will have several explosive alchemical beads ready to toss at them if they get in the way...but his main and primary target is the singer.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Wed 26 Nov 2008.

With your mind shield up, the Green Oppressiveness is pushed back, and you feel the core of peace inside you calm you a bit.  Your quick prayer gets back a 'no.', and your random hail of lead wings her.

Her singing falters, and the spell she is casting halts.

You find your steps firm and quick as you bellow out the song.

A tree branch comes down and smacks you hard across the face. Your teeth feel loose in your head, you reflect as you spin through the air. Another tree clots you in passing,a nd you tumble to the ground.

The woman starts singing again.

PT
+@1 for Guidance to Questions (you've done that before, but this is a quick use, so new use.). 1@2 for Improved Skill with Song "Onward Christian Soldiers".  I'm going to call this will benefit all on your side who are Christians and are fighting and can hear you.  At the moment, thats you.

That's it.  She's pissed him off now.  Tom tosses an explosive grenade in her general direction.  If that doesn't work, he'll toss a second and a third.  He immediately unleashes into the trees with his sword.

I would say that thick tree branches are actually quite good protection against grenades. And worse, they might be able to batt them back at you. On the plus side, they don't know what they are.

You throw the first grenade on target, and beat up the trees shielding her.  The next toss almost slips from your fingers as blood from your face drips on your fingers.  Its a feeble toss, and a tree brushes it back your way with the tips of its bending down branch.

It explodes between the two of you, doing no damage to either.

A tree branch slams you, and you chop it off. It reels back in pain.

The third grenade is launched, and lands a few feet from her.

She hits the ground, and doesn't move.

The trees are disturbed, and moving, but without direction. All about you in the middle distance is a sense of movment.

You're pretty sure you've got a broken nose.

PT

Tom briefly sets the nose back in place and invokes one of the healing prayers.  Not so much for the nose but for the damage done by the trees.   He has no time to waste.  He's got an entire #@$@$@# forest trying to kill him.  He'll start singing this time out loud.  Stealth is rather pointless here so he might as well improve his own morale, and boldly sings, dodging around the loony trees.  He does not automatically blow up the motion he senses, much as he wants to (cause the odds of something good being in the forest are virtually nil) but he will wait to shoot it until he sees what it is.

Above all, he moves fast.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Wed 26 Nov 2008.

The trees, without a focal point to direct their attention, stay out of your way. Behind you, you see a huge giantish mass rise above the trees. It looks like an enormous thornpatch was woken and given human form by the druidess. Its at least twenty stories tall, but you can also see the sky through parts of it.

However, it casts about, and then settles back down as you leave the area.

The forrest quiets, and you continue to make very good time with the forrest seeming to smooth your path.

Until you arrive in a clearing with a fifty foot mound of grass. In front of it are two pillars. One is of a towering female with a kindly look on her face and a tear tracing down her cheek.  The other is of a male with the scales of justice in his right hand and a stern look of devotion to justice on his face.

Your stomach flips as you look at the mound.

PT

And so here he is.  Before the pit of darkness in the place of light.  He remembers the council well, which explicitly told him to invoke the strange ring before he approached the pit.

And so he does, with will and spoken prayer.

The ring deconstructs you. Clothes and skin go first, but part by part you vanish into the earth, and then you reappear in a number of other worlds at the very same time from your perspective.

PT
OOC: I'm going with +@1 to your Biology knowledge for this one. And you can visit the other player's threads starting with Oak and Hadrian if you like, or let me handle it.