"I wish to ensure that the child stays safe, that is all," Eryn replied to Mira, rising back to standing position. "Please understand that I know nothing about this apart from you taking her into the black ocean to make sea soup and undead for the rest of her life. If you could just sate my concerns about that, I don't really have anything against you adopting her."

Marcus returned the hugs from other children as he heard Druzy out, his gaze lowering and shoulders slumping at the realization of the children's fate. Ushering the other kids to go to Rirrik, the paladin put his hand gently on the girl's shoulder "I very much hope you'll be able to help things like this happening again. You're very noble to take on the task on yourself." raising, he looked at Mira, working his jaw for a moment as he considered what and how to ask, or demand, from the witch. "Soup aside, I cannot sanction creation of undead." he added to Eryn's demand "If you keep her away from the red moon and give her other skills and time to do good with them, you are free to go." he forced himself to meet the crone's gaze and added "And you will have my thanks."

Mira gave Hiran a nod of aproval when he greeted her with magical symbols and replied with a couple of her own.  "Yes, allies.  I like the sound of that," she said with a snaggletooth smile. (With his lie-detecting senses, Marcus could tell there was no sincerity in her words.  She had no interest in making allies.)

To Eryn and Marcus she said, "Don't worry about the girl.  Staying with me is one of the safest places she could be." (Truth) "I will teach her what I please though.  And it will be up to the girl if she uses what I teach." (Truth)  "If it makes you feel any better though, I can promise to try and dissuade her from using any dangerous skills she may learn from me." (Lie)

Mira shifted in her seat and stared more deeply into the fire.  Her hair and clothes were still dripping wet despite her having sat there for quite some time now.  "What is your plan for the rest of the children? I would be more than willing to take more of the children with me too." (Truth) "They would all be safe at sister Mira's." (Lie) "Druzy, would you like to bring your brother with too?"  Druzy and her brother both looked really excited at that idea.

What do you do?

Ilura
Assuming nothing disrupts you, you will be able to prepare as many rations as you would like by smoking the meat (within reason).  They won't be very tasty, but they will be usable.  You can also salvage many short lengths of rope from the broken bridges.  Planks of wood too, if you want.

Hiran nodded in approval hopeful that they could have an alliance if they were ever to meet again.  He then begins heading towards the exit of the cave barring an unexpected altercation arising. He waves his fingers in the air beckoning his unseen servant along to keep up with his extra belongings.

Ilura looked quizically at Hiran as he headed out of the cave, then turned to Eryn.

"Do you know where he's going?  Surely he doesn't expect us or the kids to start walking toward town without resting first?"

As Hiran rounded the corner to exit the bonfire area, he practically ran into a person standing just out of sight.  A person with an eel for an arm.  A zombie person with an eel for an arm.  The one Mira had been working on when the party first met her, except now it was animated.

Well, it was standing on its own two feet anyway.  Calling it animated might have been a stretch since it was just standing there.  It was more like flesh statue at the moment.  It didn't even react to Hiran's sudden presence and it wasn't hidden or anything.  Just... there.

Paladin's eyes narrowed as he listened to the witch, his fist clenching. It took him a few seconds to process everything she said, and what he felt before he spoke, turning to Druzy. "I stood by all that I said. But she will lead you on a dark and treacherous path. It could well be you that will create monsters to keep small children in check one day." he took a deep breath, trying to find some hope for her "If you really wish to go and do your best to help those that can't stand for themselves, you may go with Mira. As for your brother..." Marcus turned to the witch once again, fury rising in his eyes "None of the others will go with you, as I see through your lies and greed. Bronnth may join his sister only if you extend him the same hospitality and care you will to her. And if he is aware of the dangers." he looked to the boy, his expression shifting to one of concern.

Hiran lost in thought jumps as he rams into the creature but when he realizes it was Mira's a smirk crosses his face.  He tries lightly grabbing the non eel hand of the zombie and seeing if he could lead it with him back toward Mira. Whether it follows or not he says back toward where the party still is "Mira I see you finally finished your work, quite impressive I must say."

Eryn squinted her eyes and peered towards the darker section of the cave, where Hiran was standing. "Looks like our dear wizard has spotted something. I can't make out what it is, but I've got a hunch..."

The sell-sword turned her head away from Mira to speak quietly with Ilura. "Sounds like Marcus isn't too pleased with the bargain either, understandably enough. This accursed place smells like fish and blood and death all over. Can't say I'm looking forward to making camp here, but I guess we'll have to if we wish to make use of all that meat before we leave."

At Marcus's words, Druzy began to seem less sure about her decision to go with Mira.  A detail that Mira was quick to notice.  The old sea witch narrowed her eyes at Marcus and snarled ever so slightly.  "So be it," she said, almost reluctantly.  Then, with overemphasized theatrics, Mira declared to the room, "Marcus, Keeper of the Kids, Guardian of the Downtrodden, and All-knower of Truth, I hereby swear to you that I will keep Druzy and Bronnth safe from harm until they come of age and are able to make decisions for themselves without the input of strange men who wander around caves."  The sarcasm was heavy in her voice, but Marcus could sense that her words were truthful this time.  "I don't know if I will be able to teach him my tricks though.  Never tried to teach a boy before." (Truth) "But at least your own boy with tricks can appreciate skill when he sees it." She nodded toward Hiran over by her zombie.  "You should be more like him and show more respect for your elders."  Her words were full of thinly covered malice toward Marcus, but even so, they were words she believed to be true.

Over by the zombie, when Hiran pulled on its arm, the zombie let its arm be moved but did not leave its spot.  A bead of putrid drool dripped from its mouth after Hiran jostled it, but the zombie paid no mind and continued to stare straight forward.  It eel arm wiggled about, but without purpose.

Hiran realizing he couldnt move it likely without using magic to take it under his own control.  "hmm, might as well investigate it there's always time to examine another's craft." Hiran says this to himself then uses some of the goop on the zombie and crams it into his ears to relieve himself from the audible noise of the spirits who are losing their minds being so close to the kind of work Hiran specialized in for all those years.


After trying to cram out the noise Hiran spent time investigating Mira's finished work.  Seeing if he can learn something new, or just to admire another's skilled craftsmanship.

Hearing Mira out once again, Marcus while not approving, gave a short nod with each of her statements. "It's not your age, but what you done in your life, and of that there is little that would earn you my respect." the paladin dismissed the witch and turned back to the two young dwarves "We did all we could to keep you safe. If you wish to go, do so and use the opportunity to find the power to do what is right." reaching for his holy symbol, Marcus hesitated for a moment before taking it off and offering to put it around Druzy's neck "My brother gave me this to remind me of what is important. I hope it will be able to do the same for you, noble Druzy." turning to her brother, he offered his helmet "Whatever you'll have to face next, be it another Vorlag or a sea monster, let this keep you safe brave Bronnth."

Ilura couldn't help keeping a watchful eye and ear on the paladin as he interacted with the children.  The man was selfless to a fault.  She should have thought his actions foolish, but instead she felt oddly drawn to them.  She chewed on a sinewy piece of lizard meet trying to make sense of the jumple of thoughts running through her head.

At Marcus's comments, Mira muttered something rude under her breath about Marcus not knowing her history, but otherwise went back to staring into the fire.  When the paladin put the holy symbol around Druzy's neck, the young dwarf looked at it like it was a priceless artifact.  Then she looked up at Marcus with admiration in her eyes and said, "I'll keep it safe.  For you and for your brother." (Truth) She looked over at her own brother in a way that showed she knew how much the item must mean to Marcus.

Bronnth accepted Marcus's helmet and placed it upon his own head.  It was too large and sat a bit lopsided, but the boy beamed with pride.  He hugged Marcus again and said, "Thank you mister.  Thanks to you and your friends, our forge is re-lit."  He backed up a few steps and wiped tears from his eyes.  Then, with one last sniff, he and Druzy went over to rejoin the other kids and show them what they had received.

What do you do?

Hiran
You did learn something new by examining Mira's zombie.  What did you learn?

He's a noble soul, that man, Eryn thought to herself, as she moved over to the fire and slumped down besides it. Most would stop at wishing those kids good luck.

The sell-sword gave a passing glance to Mira, trying to seem indifferent to her presence. In truth she wanted the old woman gone as quickly as possible now that their deal had been struck, but she dared not say anything that might upset the witch. Brief images of the black sea being conjured to rise up from the depths of the chasm and swallowing them all flashed across her mind, and Eryn shuddered as she realized her grim fantasy was awfully close to what they had encountered with the vorlag.

She grabbed a piece of meat from the fire and ate together with Ilura, nodding gratefully to her for doing the cooking.

Letting her thoughts run without realizing it, Eryn found herself wondering if maybe the Pit of Shadows contained an actual void. She recalled a fairy tale she had once heard, where a beast actually swallowed one such void at the beginning of time. Over the millennia it shared this void with all its offspring until one day adventurers came along and slew the last of them, and with that they unleashed the void once more and brought the world to an end.

Certainly even stranger tales had been told before.

Eryn decided then to jot down her thoughts later, as she often did during a lull in her travels. Magic and other unexplained events were always worth remembering, if only to have a tale to tell in a tavern some day.

A couple of the children complained of being thirsty and Ilura made several trips back and forth to the cavern with the pool before everyone's thirst was slaked.  A few of the smaller children had curled up on the floor of the cavern beside the fire to sleep.  She guided the others to do the same, then waited for Mira to leave before approaching the palidin.

"Would you share a watch with me?  There are many questions running through my head and my heart tells me that you may have some answers."

"Fascinating" Hiran mumbled to himself then began verbally taking notes of what he had found as he continued his investigation. "The connection with the sea has improved upon many of the weaknesses these things normally have.  The skin is wet and soft, normally this is a major problem but Mira has found a way to keep it wet and malleable but still tough.  These barnacles have built up together and given the creature a sort of natural armor without requiring any skill or range of motion which a basic undead such as this completely lacks.  Then this eel... Yeouch!" Hiran shouts in pain and says a few choice curse words. "This eel shocked me, how absolutely fascinating I wonder how Mira managed to make this still work while attached to the creature."

Hiran shook out his hand as it went numb and the pain coursed throughout then began to fade.  As it faded he then searched through his bag of books to a book he had with empty pages and began jotting down notes and hand made pictures of what he was seeing.

"May it never die down." Marcus to the dwarves as they went to rejoin their friends, standing up and watching them with pride. At Ilura's question, he turned to the ranger and gave her a warm smile. "Of course. I hope I'll be able to provide them."

"Perhaps you and I can take first watch, Eryn and Hirran can take last watch and Rirrik can take the wee hours?"

She looked around to see if anyone had any objections.

The gnoll had fared the best of all of them, so it seemed appropriate that he should suffer the most disruption in sleep.

"I'm fine with that. I have a few thoughts to discuss with our wizard anyway."

Eryn peered over towards Hiran's location. He looked very enthuastic about the undead servant Mira had put together, and he appeared to pay no heed to the potential danger such a creature represented. She shuddered again at the sight of such monsters. Pale and wet, like a sailor's corpse dredged up from the sea where it should have been left to drift in peace. Not just that, but it also had odd parts sewn on from other corpses, making it even more of an affront to natural life. If there were any gods watching this, they would certainly turn their heads away, Eryn mused.

Then she suddenly noticed that Hiran seemed to be touching the slimy corpse and drying the stuff off on himself, and Eryn couldn't stomach it anymore.

"Hey, Hiran! Could you come over here for a bit? We need to eat and lay some plans!" she shouted in his direction, hoping that he would stop messing around with the rotten abomination until the witch left.

Hiran fully engrossed in his study and his ears stuffed full of goop was completely oblivious to the warriors calls as he feverishly jotted down additional notes and pictures.

Ilura waited until everyone had eaten their fill and the remaining party members had bedded down before talking further with the Paladin.

The two of them were seated comfortably with their backs against a log, facing away from the fire with a good view of the entrances and exits from their small area of the cavern.  Thomas occasionally flew down into the crevasse to watch for any signs of life.  A couple of the children were snoring softly.  At one point, Hirran had been talking animately in his sleep in some language neither of them understood, but a poke at his foot had quieted him down.

The paladin waited quietly, apparently happy to enjoy the peaceful sounds of the campfire behind them and not rushing her.

"Can you tell me more of Lusiny?  I mean, I know she's a god and all, and she comes from the white moon.  But I never paid that much attention during the services when my parents made me go.  I always just wanted to be outside.

My mentor...  Well, he said we should strive for a balance between the moons.  That when either became too powerful, the tides would wash away the world of men into the sea.  But I've seen what harm the red god can do.  Even when he is defeated, his servants try to find a way to come back.  I can't help but feel like I need to work against him - against them.  What was done to my former master was horrible.  How can I not fight against such darkness?"

Marcus heard Ilura out, hearing a variation of questions that he had heard several times before. But he would never stop answering them. "Balance?" he asked slowly when the ranger spoke her mind "I do not know how the world without the red moon would look like, but I doubt it would be bad. ANd so I too will fight the dark blood."

Realizing he hadn't really answer, the paladin continued "It is not that Lusiny promises a tame night. There are predators at every turn if you walk too far. But for most of us, we should not have to worry about having our homes destroyed and family killed." he looked over the sleeping children, all of which went through at least as much horror as he did, his eyes watering and he paused for a moment, not wishing his voice to tremble when he spoke "And until everyone can sleep sound in their homes, she will not rest. And neither will I."

Ilura paused for a while, listening to the odd crackle from the low fire behind her.  Her shoulder and leg ached, but it still felt good to sit.  Her bow leaned against the log nearby, easy to reach if it should it be needed.

"How did you come to know her?"

Marcuse paused at the question, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Thinking about his family still hurt him, even when he recalled his childhood. Opening his eyes slowly he spoke, his voice hushed "My father took us to the woods every week. We watched the life unfold, and we stayed until the moons were high, excited to see an owl or a fox." a small smile crept onto his face "I will always remember the smell of the forest on the crisp breeze and the soft steps on the ground. And how well I slept after each of those adventures." he gazed past the ebbing fire and into the darkness of the caves "I was already her's when I first heard her name spoken."