Not giving up that easily Port kinda takes a step towards him trying to make his appeal. What if I just pay you with the stuff I took from the demon? Come on! this thing is going to be a bitch to carry, please. And why do you care about what I said about demons, your not one are you. If you are you can tell me pal. Come oooooooooon!

After returning to the town with the others, and having one of the healers help him with cleaning the fresh bite on his shoulder, Roth emerges from the building to find their halfing has found a cart for all the spoils and managed to garner the disdain of their mage.  Playing referee, Roths steps in with his hands raised and reasons, "Now Stan, there's no sense letting the knight's things go to waste by burying them with her body.  Where would we be if everyone took their knowledge to the grave, and didn't write it down for those who followed?  You'd be without cantrips, and I'd be without a job!"  He laughs meekly at the small joke and turns to Porto, "And you!  A cart?  Really?  You know you can't keep it all for yourself."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:39, Thu 15 Apr 2010.

"Stay out of it Roth! I've still got another fire ball running around up here."

Stan pointed to his temple with an extended index finger. His face was that of a desperate man or a lunatic.

Finder keepers my elf friend. But if your willing to help I'll share my spoils with you. Theirs a glowing sword in here that my have your name on it. Porto says like a salesman. He really didn't want to pull the cart. If he could at all.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:45, Sun 18 Apr 2010.

Shirok said nothing in reply, lowering his eyes in silent thanks. Even if his efforts in the town had been fruitful, there was no excuse for abandoning his tribe, for abandoning Ilsa. He could only be grateful she was alright, that he was given the chance to atone.

There were several moments of silence before Shirok felt something nudging him in the back. Finally he pulled away from Ilsa and turned to see Neya's golden eyes staring at him. He spoke quietly to her, bowing his head in apology. Neya simply stared back, until she suddenly lunged forward, slamming into him.

The fight was brief, and ended with Neya wagging her tail and Shirok completely pinned underneath her massive form. After letting him struggle for a while the shewolf stood and let him up, lightly headbutting him as he stood.

Ilsa smiled as she watched Neya and Shirok get into it. It was good to see the wolf full of life again. "The crystal knight was dead. I don't know that the means for our quest. But the fat one has the loot," she said. With the three of them together again, Ilsa was deferring decisions to Shirok.

"The Crystal Knight was a stranger in this situation as were we," Shirok answered as he stood, scratching Neya gratefully behind the ears as the wolf wagged her tail happily. "But now that the plague has ended, Nachtbrise should be willing to return to Skyway with us." He set aside the matter of the loot for now; it could be dealt with easily enough later.

"I should probably go and see this pillar for myself; if it holds the history of our tribe, then it needs to be read."

"You should not go alone. The kobolds are not all dead. I don't know why, exactly. And what of the human, elf, and other one?" Ilsa asked.

"We will not be long; beyond informing the others of where we have gone I do not see the need for them to be involved. This is Snake Tongue business." He shrugged slightly. "But if you would prefer, we can bring them."

"No, just to tell them where we are." Ilsa shook her head. "Neya and I must claim our share. The little one looted the body."

Shirok nodded in agreement; if she wanted to handle the matter now, then it was best to handle it now. Besides, the longer it went unsettled, the more complicated things would end up becoming.

The two half-orcs eventually found the others standing by a cart filled with the loot, the others arguing nearby. Shirok frowned slightly, waiting to see what the dispute was about before possibly interfering, but Neya almost immediately strode forward curiously and poked her head into the cart, sniffing at the assembled goods within.

"I'd be careful, Porto.  Hogging the loot usually ends with a knife in someone's back."  Roth grins and reaches into the cart, pulling out the sword and it's scabbard as he offers his aid to the halfling, "But I'd be glad to carry the sword for you for a while."  He pauses for a moment and notes in an aside to Stan, "Until we find its' rightful heir, as it must be passed on."  Returning his gaze to Porto, the young elf adds, "But did you really have to take her armor?  It would cost more than it would pawn for to refit it, and it's a real dishonor for a knight to be buried without it."

"Less of a dishonor than to have ones corpse rotting in a mine," Ilsa said. "To the victor go the spoils." The tone of her comment could only be interpreted one way: she considered herself the victor. "If her kin wish to challenge for her armor and arms, let them step forth." The Snake Tongue tribe was not one built on inheritance laws and equitable distribution of wealth. It was based on strength, intimidation, and the power of one's allies. Leadership was not passed on from father to son, unless it happened to be the son who killed the father. Anyone not strong enough to hold onto their possesses did not deserve them.

I like that talk my large companion. Porto says to Ilsa. Tossing the necklace from the demon to Ilsa Porto asks. What do you make of it?

Ilsa caught the necklace and examined it. She showed it to Shirok. "Then you agree the armor is mine," she said to the halfling.

That depends. The way I see it is that I'm going to be traveling with you all for a while. So if you wear the armor the better chances I have of surviving. If your plans are to sell it. Then I myself get that privaledge.

"I will not sell it," Ilsa said. The idea truly had not crossed her mind.

Shirok took the necklace and studied it briefly, though there was little he could learn from it. It obviously held some enchantment, but he hadn't the knowledge to decipher it without testing it; safety demanded that it remain unworn until it could be identified.

"Weapons and armor were made to be used," he said in response to the ongoing argument of whether the items should be taken from the dead. "There is no sense in leaving them to be buried when they can still serve their purpose."

Shirok come over here for a second. This may be a little to big for me to throw. Porto says as he pulls on the spear. Making it obvious that he intends to give the magical spear to the half-orc. Go for it Ilsa. Porto replies about the armor.

Sometime after the group returns to Redding, plans are being made for the feast and festival to celebrate the finding of a cure for the plague—and thus the community’s salvation.  During this time, after Chubb’s loot had been properly divided, Ilsa, Neya, and Shirok make their way back to the Vanderplot Mine with a small patrol of militiamen charged with harvesting the first casks of the enchanted water.  During this expedition they once again find the kobolds.
M’dok, who immediately recognizes the large wolf, Neya, allows them free-passage within their new homeland.  The militiamen secure three barrels of the water and Shirok spends time going over the Tornclaw Clan history.

Back in Redding, Chubbs and Roth spend some time searching for some way to properly identify the magical properties of the Demon’s spear and fallen Knight’s sword.  Unfortunately, there are few versed enough in Arcane ways who reside in mining communities such as this.  They pack them away, content to follow-up once back in Skyway City.

Natchbrise agrees to leave Redding with the heroes; but not until after the festival.  The cleric wishes to help administer the curative waters to the affected miners and their families.

A few days later, after much of the water has been collected and given out, and the festival plans have come to a head, the party begins!  There isn’t much by way of food, but nearly all capable persons have come together to show their appreciations for the adventurers who had risked their lives for the doomed community.  Chubbs uses this time to perform a little bit for the happy residents.  For the next 24 hours, the other members of the group find he possesses a keen musical skill and favors the surreal.

"The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
The city fathers they're trying to endorse
The reincarnation of Paul Revere's horse
But the town has no need to be nervous.

The ghost of Belle Star she hands down her wits
To Jezebel the nun she violently knits
A bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
At the head of the chamber of commerce.

Mama's in the fact'ry
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy's in the alley
He's lookin' for fuse
I'm in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues.

The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
Screaming she moans, 'I've just been made'
Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
Says, 'My advice is to not let the boys in.'

Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
He walks with a swagger and he says to be bride
'Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride
You will not die, it's not poison.'

Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, 'Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in ?'
The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, 'Death to all those who would whimper and cry'
And dropping a bar bell he points to the sky
Saying, 'The sun's not yellow it's chicken.'

The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
Put jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
Then sends them out to the jungle.

Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he bums out their camps
With his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps
With a fantastic collection of stamps
To win friends and influence his uncle.

The geometry of innocence flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo's math book to get thrown
At Delilah who sits worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter.

Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after.

Where Ma Raney and Beethoven once unwrapped their bed roll
Tuba players now rehearsal around the flagpole
And the National Bank at a profit sells road maps or the soul
To the old folks home in the college.

Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge.

Mama's in the fact'ry
She ain't got no shoes
Daddy's in the alley
He's lookin' for fuse
I'm in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues."

---

The next morning, the heroes wake rested and refreshed.  During the feast, even Stan drank the water and now he had to admit he felt better—at least as much as the plague was concerned.  The party, plus Natchbrise and a donkey and cart (for Chubbs) set out for Skyway City.
It isn’t long before something very strange happens.  Roth spies the beginning of a wide forest on the horizon; and after a little while the others do too.  This is strange since they hadn’t passed through a forest on the way to Redding—in fact, the map hadn’t mentioned one, and Roth is quick to point out that there shouldn’t be a forest around for several hundred miles.  At least not a forest big enough to notice.
The party takes some time to verify that they are in fact still on the Great Highway and heading directly for Skyway; but an expansive (and new) forest now stands between them.

"Well I'll be a sorcerer's familiar. This is quite strange."

Stan had been feeling more energetic since partaking of the curative water.

He stared around at the forest, trying to convince himself they had merely gotten lost. But the path was quite familiar - the bends in the road, little rock formations here and there.

"This is definitely the road to Skyway, though. Porto, what do you make of it?"

"Forests don't just grow in a few days," Roth states, more confirming to himself than explaining to the others(well, maybe Ilsa,) "This would takes some powerful magic ... or maybe we've slipped through time again?"  Now without fear of plague, Roth's cape once again drapes over his left shoulder, and has taken the knight's sword and strapped it over his shoulder and across his back.  His rapier, although it is of fine craftsmanship and seemed to hold sentimental value to the elf, is now tucked in his mount's saddlebags to be sold on return to the city.

Shirok studied the forest ahead with a faint look of confusion upon his face. A new forest was most assuredly a good thing, but it was impossible for one to grow this quickly. They hadn't been lost in time again, had they? Surely the last time had been caused by some obscure sorcery within the Tower, not something that would be found within a small mining town.

After a few moments of consideration he rummaged through his pack and pulled out the gilded scroll case given to him by Kaele, sliding out the Wayfarer's Map. It had been in the case since leaving Skyway, and if it was as accurate as the golem claimed then perhaps it could shed some light on this.

With the party stopped (and for reasons she didn't quite understand or care about), Ilsa took the time to adjust her armor, tussle with Neya, and gnaw on some rations. She had no speculation of her own to add to the discussion.

Slipping through time, surprisingly, would be the best explanation due to the experience at the tower. But then again that would mean that it has something to do with us and not the tower. And with Sir Natchbrise with us that also seems unlikely. So maybe a great sorcerer is playing with us and sending us through time, or rose a forest in a matter of days. Picking up a rock Porto chucks it at the nearest tree. Or perhaps this is just a strong allusion.