Talia and Elendil settle into the seats on the back porch where they met the previous evening. Watching Med and Pral leave with the little mounted expedition up Mount Dain, they discuss their day ahead. After a time, Thumbs comes out with a platter of eggs and hot skrain with raisins. Molly has black tea in heavy earthenware mugs. She goes back to the kitchen, but he lingers.
"My thanks to both of you for your courage last night. The stable hands are working on the damaged armor. Said it was just some buckles as needed to be put back to rights. You aren't likely to hear any thanks from Tomar, but the rest of us here are glad to have him still alive. Old Sam... Well, Old Sam will be missed."
He stands for a while in silence. Then, looking, up towards the mountain, his eyes sparkle. "Here comes Corin back down with Brother Landrau. Now you'll see something new." With that, he goes back inside.
When the blond bartender and the cleric arrive in the inn yard, you can see what he meant. Brother Landrau is a stocky man, no more than five and a half feet tall, but with broad shoulders and a quick stride. He wears a mail shirt and carries an ugly looking mace. His hair is what Thumbs must have been referring to. It's black and thick, worn short cropped. Over his left brow is a patch of hair in the shape of a spread-fingered hand that is perfectly white. The hand that made it--for it seems impossible that it is a natural birthmark--was child-sized. As he comes up the stairs of the porch toward you, you can see that half of his left eyebrow is similarly white. His eyes are an unremarkable brown, but one little streak of his left iris is a blue so pale as to be hard to distinguish from the white part of the eye.
Corin makes the introductions. Brother Landrau nods solemnly at Elendil, and his gaze lingers on Talia, taking in her wild look and bearing. The snake chooses this moment to peer out from under her hair. Corin is startled, but the cleric seems unperturbed. "Daughter of Leeta," is all he says by way of greeting. "Let us have a look at these beasts."
The corpses are still lying where Pral stretched them out the night before. Now stinking somewhat and swirling with flies, they make an even uglier sight by daylight. The cleric inspects them rapidly, and proclaims, "Goblins. Louhi's beasts."
He makes a strange motion in the air with his hands.
"We have a series of relief carvings at the monastery that we believe date back to the time before the gods slept. They show three forms of humanoid evil and attribute them to The Hag. In modern Ercacian, we would call them goblins, kobolds, and orcs." Still crouching by the bodies, he turns to Talia.
"If I guess rightly about you, we have little common ground between us, theologically speaking, but I suspect we are united in the belief that such creatures have no place here. No place anywhere."
He straightens. "Let's step inside and have a look at Elendil's wounds. Then, perhaps the three of us can learn more about where these things came from. Corin, tell Master Hughes that Brother Able will be down later today to see to Sam."
Inside, a little crowd gathers rapidly in the great room when the rumor gets out that there will be a miraculous healing. Though Elendil might have preferred a more private venue, the cleric seems happy to oblige the crowd. Situating Elendil's wounded leg on a long bench, he removes the bandages and begins his chant. [d8: 2] The feeling of the healing spell is like stepping into a hot bath with cold toes. Painful at first, and then wonderful. The worst portion of one gash closes before your eyes. Still, as miracles go, it leaves something to be desired. The cleric seems to agree, and he casts his spell again. [d8: 6] The crowd gasps, and it's hard not to feel a sense of awe, as all traces of the wounds are erased.
Elendil stands, testing the leg. It is a bit stiff at first, but soon feels perfectly normal.
The little crowd disperses, murmuring in approval.
A stablehand shuffles forward and offers Elendil an awkward armful of armor. "All fixed up, sir." Unsure how to behave around someone who has just been healed by Kronnor, he hurries away.
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