Sharak 16-17, 652 DR: Dogsbutt deals with local ruffians. Daga returns to the City with Çarn. Return to the the Naryard asylum. Daroc’s nature revealed. A senseless but deadly game. Ommor the cleaver wielding idiot. Blood everywhere.

Continued from Question of the Crimson Quill.

Kændor, 16 Sharak 652

Dogsbutt slipped down the oily shingles and dropped from the house’s rear into the alley. Scampering passed onlooking rats he moved into the open street where the four boys stood with rocks in their hands. Slipping behind the center boy he tapped him on the shoulder.

Çarn and Daga entered Southgate and approached the second door. Inside they asked the attending guard about the Craw. The soldier explained that he didn’t know much about the creatures except what they told soldiers newly stationed at the South Wall. He explained that the Craw live below the outside wall, and in the late evenings can sometime be seen gliding down into the Sulsàdter to nab unwary people and drag them screaming back into their dark roosts. The soldier guessed that they ate people but did not know for sure, except that on hot summer days a horrid rotting odor overcame the area. He also didn’t seem the least concerned that Southswallers were being preyed upon. Çarn and Daga thanked the man and headed toward the Pryard where they found an inn for the night. Çarn listened and talked to a Loston bard who was singing Eylfāe songs in the main room until late that night. Daga kept an eye on the old soldier, to make sure he’d be in fighting condition the next day.

Malídor, 17 Sharak 652

Early the next morning, Daga pushed the old man out the door of the inn and started north across the Barrens. A few covert signs and some dropped coins moved them quickly through the queues to cross the bridge. Within a couple watches they had reached the Naryard. After meeting briefly with Solem, they ventured to the asylum. There, Sindor led them back through the wing to the heavy wood door. On the other side stood the attendant, as if in all these days he hadn’t moved from his post. Sindor unlocked the door and the guide led them into the West Wing with a lantern in hand. At last they reached the top most floor where dark shapes darted from the lantern’s glow. Ahead, a candlelit doorway opened into a large chamber filled with jumbled tables covered with a wide assortment of small treasures and wax-clad candlesticks. At the farthest table two figures sat across from each other, one a thin man with wild eyes whose mouth and face were stained with dried blood, the other a hulking shape clad in ragged robes and a hood.

Çarn and Daga introduced themselves. The thin man stood from the table and approached the visitors, their guide stepped backward. After some questioning of the man they learned that this was Ommor. Ommor did not speak completely, instead clinging to names from his past and now those of the visitors. Daga told him about Belder’s death, but got no reaction from the wild-eyed man. When they asked about Daroc, the robed figure pulled back his hood to reveal a large red bird’s head; Daroc was a red Craw. It was explained that the two had been playing an elaborate game of cards for many years and that whenever Ommor would win a hand he could name his prize. Ommor would call a name from his past and a crimson quill would be sent to slay the named. Daga asked what could be done to stop the game but Daroc assured him that nothing would end it. Ommor stood in the chamber’s center blathering “Çarn, Daga, Daga”. Their task completed, the visitors announced they would leave, but Daroc informed them otherwise.

Turning, they found their guide had abandoned them, so grabbing the lantern they fled down the wing’s four flights. Behind them the footfalls of a pursuer stumbled down the stairs. At the ground floor, they raced through the hall’s shifting shadows until they came to the six locked doors. Daga hurriedly fumbled with his picks. At first he searched for traps, but hearing the footsteps near he simply worked the locks. One, two down. With a sweep of lantern-light he could see Ommor racing toward them with a cleaver in hand. Çarn braced himself with sword and shield against the approaching madman as Daga pulled his sidearm and fired. A loud explosion filled the hallway. Ommor looked at his crippled hand for an instant and traded the cleaver to his left hand before continuing forward. Ommor rushed, cutting savagely with the meat-cutter and staring dumbly into the shaking light. Çarn cried out as the cleaver sunk into his calf, found bone and cut to his ankle. The halls came alive with hooting, laughter, and echoing screams as the residents of the West Wing drew nearer. Çarn dropped to the ground, but managed to keep his shield and sword before him as his blood pooled and mixed with Ommor’s. The madman was cut repeatedly by Çarn’s sword and Daga’s knife, but he continued the fray despite mortal wounds. Soon Çarn and Ommor were face-to-face on the ground hacking at each other madly as Daga circled, planting his knife again and again into the man’s bare back. In time, Daga became unsure where he was stabbing for the blood and hanging flesh that covered the man, his knife sank deeply but still Ommor cut at Çarn. Finally, after minutes of bloodletting, the madman simply stopped. The fight had bled from him and slowly, with a puzzled look he sank quietly to the floor. Çarn and Daga remained staring for a moment in disbelief. Çarn pulled the meat of his leg back against the bone and bound his and Daga’s wounds. Daga continued with the locks but the door opened before he finished.

Sindor stood on the other side of the door looking at the two with astonishment. Çarn stood straight upon his mangled leg declaring, “There was hundreds of them!” Daga hurriedly shut the door behind them and Sindor fumbled with his ring of keys. In the dark beyond where there had been only laughter and screaming, now the dark hall was filled with the shuffling of feet and the tearing and eating of flesh.

Continued in With Heavy Heart….

Characters

• Daga Grey
• Dogsbutt
• Thylàdaréus Çarn
• Belder
• Daroc Kondor
• Karras
• Old Ginch
• Ommor the Mad: killed, eaten
• Sindor
• Solem

Played: 09 Jun 2000