Heroica RPG - Quest #49: The Light That Reveals Everything

[Etzel]

"The priestess is here in the entry. Let me check if she can see you now."

The girl closes the door but soon opens it again.

"She said yes, please come in."

The heroes moves inside the entry which is a sparsely furnished room with a man in armor and battle gear standing next to a women behind a desk.

"Welcome travelers! I am Mandrea Melifano, priestess here at the House of Ennoc's Children. This is my brother sir Mandric, Commander of the 2nd Battalion of Light and Justice, and you have already met Najdalena, one of our novices. How may I help you?"

[Masked Builder]

"Hello Mandrea, we carry a letter from High Priestess Alisameth to you. Cronk the knight here has it."

[Scorpiox]

"As Alexis here says, we have been given a task by the High Priestess herself, your ladyship. Cronk here is carrying a letter meant for your eyes only, and we are here to ensure that it reaches you safely"

Haldor gestured toward his friend the Orc knight, and smiled.

"Care to pass on the letter, Cronk?"

[CorneliusMurdock]

Yes. Cronk gives letter from High Priestess to Priestess Melifano. Please let friends know if there is anything friends can do here.

[Etzel]

"For your eyes only, dear sister? Will you throw me out of here just when I've arrived?"

"Don't be silly, Mandric. Why don't you go and change into something more comfortable to wear to supper while I'll handle this. Najdalena, go tell Fat Mats to prepare food for 4 more persons tonight. I insist that you stay overnight here at the convent, dear messengers. Your trip home will be much nicer if you get a good night sleep under real roof and some good meals in your stomachs."

"Hahaha, you sure admire the High priestess. Never would you dear defy her orders, sister. Ah well, I hardly believe it's anything interesting anyway, everyone in the council is just caught up in bureaucracy and has no real life experience. You can't feel the Light if you don't step out into the sun! See you later, miss Alexis, sir Cronk and you too mister no-shirt."

Sir Mandric and Najdalena the novice exits the entry and Cronk delivers the letter to Mandrea who opens and read it.

The quest is successful! No, just kidding, much more to come

"Oh... oh this is terrible! Absolutely terrible! What a scandal it will be! Oh Light!

I... I must... I will write a letter back to High priestess Alisameth... yes, I will do that. Not now though, I must gather my thoughts first. I will have the letter ready tomorrow and then you can bring it back to Eubric."

The priestess looks truly shocked and she nervously wrings her hands.

[Scorpiox]

"You look fraught, is there something that I could do for you, your ladyship? Yes, we will deliver this message for you tommorrow with the upmost urgency. I thank you for your hospitality in letting us stay here, your ladyship."

Haldor turned to the other heroes, waiting to hear what they had to say.

[Masked Builder]

"Yes if there's anything else we can do, we'd be more than happy to help." Alexis smiles.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Cronk and friends would be glad to take letter back to High Priestess but if there is any other aid friends could provide, firends would be glad to provide it. Party is already here, after all.

[Etzel]

The priestess takes a deep breath and puts on her calm face again.

"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to help in this matter. It is a case of purely internal business of the Order, and we know how to handle it ourselves. Please enjoy your stay here tonight without bothering about our problems. The supper is served at sunset in the Dining Hall, in the south-east corner of the convent. You have some time before that to explore parts of the House of Ennoc's Children and meet the members of it. I need to go to my room, but we will meet at supper. See you then."

The priestess leaves the entry with the letter in her hand. The heroes can now visit up to 2 places in the House of Ennoc's Children before it is time for supper.

At the moment the heroes are in the Entry, down in the south-west corner of the convent. From there, the only other room they can get to is the Study, but from the Study they can then choose if they wish to go to the Training Grounds outside, or to the Sanctuary in the middle of the convent.

[Masked Builder]

"Well my friends, where shall we go after the study?" Alexis says as she leads the part to the study.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Cronk is fine with wherever friends may wish to go. Cronk is rather curious about the training grounds, though. Cronk is always willing to learn new techniques.

[Etzel]

The heroes enter the Study where they see some benches and a blackboard on one of the walls. A gray-haired man sits by his desk but rises to speak with the heroes.

"Greetings visitors! My name is Jorke, the cleric here in the House of Ennoc's Children. I teach the novices of the art of Healing and Meditation, and also some recipes of tonics and potions. Who might you be, fair elf and man of the North?"

[Masked Builder]

"Greetings Jorke, I am Alexis Fenral and this is Haldor and Cronk." She points at each in turn. "We're delivering letters for the high priestess. Potions you say? Know anything interesting?"

[Scorpiox]

"Hello Jorke, it's a nice place you got here. Cleric, you say? Is there anything a learned one such as you could teach a crude Nord healer like me? I only learnt what I could, and the rest I had from birth, but there wasn't much place for a man like back home."

[Etzel]

"Potions is not an easy matter, miss Fenral. One mistake in the process can make the whole batch useless, or ever lethal. Have you never wondered why potions and poisons are usually sold in the same shop? It's more or less the same recipe, just different proportions of the ingredients. We clerics of the Paladin Order have a good experience with potions, sometimes you can't concentrate hard enough to heal when surrounded by enemy swords in the battlefield and then it's important to have some powerful potions with you. We are also the discoverers of the blessed brew of Soma, others may tell you the Soma originates from some exotic land in the East but we know the truth."

"Healing works best by the power of Light, Haldor of the North. I can see you know the basics of healing but if you let Ennoc the Righteous Light guide you, your powers will prosper. Relying on local gods will only take you so far, to rise above the rest you need to trust the Light which can be found anywhere in the world. Become Ennoc's loyal servant and he will award you."

[Scorpiox]

Haldor smiled politely, but behind his amiable expression, he was offended at this attempted conversion.

"I thank you, sir, but I'm afraid that I cannot abandon my gods who have guided me so far. Those gods of my home in the north, they taught much of what I know, and inspired me to find a better life for myself; to leave them now would be a treachery beyond what I could stand. There is one, called by most of Nords as Riktvard the just, but we always knew him as Thoric, he is with me still. Not warlike or violent as Wartan and Torrik who you may know, but kind and fair. It is from him that I can heal in my way, that I came here to this fair isle with its many secrets, and that I am standing before you now at all. I can see what your god Ennoc has done for the world, but I could not stand here and forsake my past, my life and my upbringing to join your religon. But I thank you all the same."

The Nord turned back to the others.

"May I suggest the training ground next, folks?"

[CorneliusMurdock]

Hello, Jorke. Cronk is follower of Ennoc. Could Jorke give Cronk any pointers in art of healing or meditation?

[Masked Builder]

Alexis absorbed the information. "Bah, I knew potions were a scam," she thinks to herself. "That is most interesting, are you working on anything new?"

"Let's head to the training grounds then."

[Etzel]

"I won't press you in this matter, Haldor. But I hope that you one day will see that your gods are just weak reflections of the greater deities that rules this world. Your Thoric might be some barbarian distortion of Ennoc, but in that form he can never give you the same amount of power as in his original state."

The cleric then continues to completely ignore Cronk.

"Alas, miss Fenral, I'm all too occupied in trying to teach the novices all they need to know to become clerics and paladins of their own. The small free time I have doesn't allow me to experiment with anything beyond the ordinary. I did make some potion with raspberry flavor, but I think we have used up all of it, otherwise I would have offered you one."

"If you wish to visit the Training grounds there is a door leading out to it right here in the Study. It's practical to have the novices train both inside and outside. Please say hello to Sir Helmer, the training master, from me. He is quite new here at the House, but we know each other from the time in the Battalion. When it was time for him to do his teaching duty that all members of the Paladin Order is required to do, I recommended him to come here."

[Masked Builder]

"Thank you very much Jorke. I'll be sure to tell him that." Alexis then leads the party to the training grounds.

[CorneliusMurdock]

All right, Jorke. Cronk sees how things are. Cronk hopes that Ennoc will find a way to open Jorke's eyes to see world without prejudice. Just remember, Jorke, it is hard to see true Light with eyes closed. Cronk prays for Jorke.

Some people make Cronk sad.

[Scorpiox]

Haldor spat angrily on the polished wood floor, walking over to the man with building rage.

"Gods, why is it that you people seem to learn nothing but arrogance and prejudice from your oh so noble deity. You know, I was hoping that you lot would turn out to be just as righteous as you claim, but now I know that it isn't at all like that. You only believe in your own strict views, you will not accept anyone who believes differently, and you abuse and mistreat beings just because of the colour of their skin." Haldor stood up to his full height, and roughly jabbed the cleric in the chest with his finger. "In all my life, I've never known such a bunch of filthy hypocrites. First, you insult my gods, that have been with my kind as long as we can remember. You call them 'weak reflections' of your 'greater gods', you slander them as 'barbarians'?! So what about me, am I a barbarian for following them?! I, who have only ever tried to do what is right, am a thug and brute because I do not worship your damn Ennoc?! You say Thoric, a wise and peaceful judge who stands as what I would always aspire to be, is a 'distortion' of the great and kind Light? You are wrong, he would never stoop so low as to be compared to your god, twisted and malformed by those who claim to worship him." The Norseman tried to breath heavily, he was losing control of himself. But there was no love in his soul for those like the man who stood before him, racists were one of the things that Haldor just couldn't abide. "And what of Cronk, he is a member of your order, he walks in your ranks, yet you cannot even look at him. Why, because he is an orc? Or because you know the truth? He, the 'greenskin', is better than you. Cronk is twice the man you'll ever be, you Racist swine. I just pray that you're an isolated case in this Paladin order, lest the others be as bad as you."

Haldor turned away in an attempt to stop himself from lashing out, this wasn't how he'd hoped the day would go. "Now, my friends, would be a good time to go, I'm tired of this. Shall we head off to the training ground?"

[Etzel]

"You forget were you are, Haldor. This is the House of Ennoc's Children and we who live and work here are under his protection. You are just visitors that has been granted permission to stay here overnight, continue to abuse that privilege and you will be shown the door before you know it. You seem mighty upset about my remarks about your gods so I will not mention them again, the choice of gods is one's own after all and I just wanted to show you another option.

I do not wish to speak to the orc, and I do not care about his stated qualities. I wish his kind had never left the western prairies. The atrocities committed during the Orcish Invasion is too extensive and disgusting to bring up now, but I can tell you that some things may not be forgiven. The kingdom of Ennon will never return to its former glory, it is doomed to be a deserted wasteland with nothing to offer but sad memories for everyone that comes there. I know, I've seen the ruins. I've walked on the cracked and overgrown roads that once bustled with carts and people. I've breathed the same air as kings and peasants of Ennoc did, but now it smells of smoke from forest fires, stinking marshlands were once irrigated farmlands stretched forever, and from the cadavers from vile creatures that savages the land. I cannot forgive the orcs for this, I know it in my heart, but I don't want every orc killed either. They can live free and happy if they like, but not where I have to see them. The western prairies are where they came from and that is where they should return. I won't bother them if they don't bother me."

[Scorpiox]

"Fine, I lost my temper when I should not have, but I have lost my desire to speak with you anymore. I did not come here expecting to see what I have, but I guess that some people just don't believe in the same kind of values that I was raised on. This may be your land, but that does not grant you divine privileges. I do not deny the terrible things done by orcish invaders during the war, but I'm dissappointed to have to remind a learned man like you that Cronk was not even born when these things happened, and to blame him for them is just downright stupid. Using any old orc as an object of your anger against his ancestors is wrong, and you must know it. What would Ennoc say? That you have acted this way to one of his own followers, would he thank you for this? Why don't I go and bully your children because of how you have irritated me this day? How does that sound to you?" Haldor breathed deeply again, he was more calm now "Listen to Cronk, hear him out, he deserves that. Speak to him for him, not for his great-grandparents. He is one of you, for the gods' sake, prove to me that you can be better than this, and I'll be happy to hold my hands up and say that I was wrong."

[Masked Builder]

"Settle down you two." Alexis says in a commanding tone. "Maybe it'd be best if we just move on now."