Episode 1 Scene 1a : The Arrival

Brindel's eyes follow Felliani. "Felliani, please wait nearby outside the garrison for us. I would like to speak to Kezzel before we go since we are here."

He turns to the rest of the group. "Lex, and whoever else is interested, is invited to join me. I don't think we'll be here long. We can meet up with anyone who doesn't want to speak to Kezzel and has other business is the city, including finding rooms for us, since to stay together we'll need to stay in the village."

Then he addresses Kustaa, "Personally, I would like to get our assignment tomorrow. A hot meal and a soft bed tonight would be most welcome."

"Of course." Feliani followed as Katsmon directed. She was glad that no greater fuss was created over this matter. Besides, there ought to be lots more going on down by the village.

Lex laughs quietly at Kendra's jibes. Thank you Kendra. I have been accused of being too trusting before. It is something I am working on. Great to know you have my bacl though.

Then he turna to Kustaa
Personally, I would prefer to begin working as soon as possible. Practical experiments do give the best learning opportunities after all and I'd love to explore the area and learn everything I can.

Kroog is agreeable to taking the oath, albeit somewhat reserved on the issue. Yet, he trusts his companions and will follow suit for the group's sake.

As the group chaotically moves to disperse, Egret takes a few last looks through the pages of the book - which he retrieved from Katsmon right after taking the oath, - and then sets it back in its place, taking a note to himself to maybe request a chance to examine it more later. It was refreshing to read Druidic after months of journeys without a sight of familiar words, for all that he usully didn't interact with those who shared his profession. Lifestyle? Whichever being a druid can be classified as.

Now that the meeting is over, Egret turns towards Brindel. "As intriguing a person as master Kezzel is, I trust I'll have more chances to speak with him later. Can't forget what we were told about his favorite dishes, too!" He chuckles. "I'll go wait with Feliani, I think. It's... stifling here." The druid fixes his collar and smiles apologetically at Kustaa. "Castles and towers are not my favorite scene."

To the room at large Kendra asks. Now we got the oath thing settled, what is this mission all about

Kustaa nods to Egret and indicates that he is free to go if he wants.

Kustaa looks over at Kendra, "Well that will kind of depend on what you collectively decide, unless you all want individual missions, or I can have you report to normal guard rotation."

"Kustaa, without everyone here, we cannot make such a decision. During the journey, we agreed to work together if the circumstances were right. Do you have a mission for us all that we can discuss later as a group?"

"Well considering the size and seeming versatility to your group I have one that should be something I hope your group can handle as it would greatly expedite our putting a group together. Still you all kind of need to consider deciding on a leader for your group or at least spokesperson as dealing with an entire unit is oft times a bit too much when giving out assignments. That being said we have reports of a tower that exists within the swamp and we want it checked out to see if we can establish some kind of forward base that we can use to start dealing with the undead issue that exists there. If your inclined to take on this assignment, and I can understand if you do not, I can introduce you to a local guide that I think would fit nicely into your rather eclectic group that can help you navigate this region. So if you agree to this, then please look up a guy named Shump, he can generally be found at Mams Inn. Does this sound viable and if yes do you have any questions?"

Is anything known about the origins of the tower? Also, you mentioned undead, could you tell us anything more about the dangers we might expect to face?

Finally, could we have access to any supplies fo this mission?

"Well, no you would be the first ones to be investigating this, so no information beyond its general location. As for the undead, well they are the non-living that walk around and pretend to be alive and come in many varieties and many of those exist within that marsh so could not say what you might encounter, however, rest assured that ever present fog or mist or whatever it is protects them from the full light of day. Still there does seem to be an inordinate amount of animated corpses and skeletons which many folks seem to mistake as being undead wandering around the marshes perimeters. Now as to supplies... well that kind of depends on what sort of supplies you are wanting to acquire. Somethings like food, water, and ammo we have plenty of other things like magical potions and such we do not have... well except for things that ole Kezzel might have whipped up recently."

Shahadur chuckles, "Yeah but you might be better off not drinking any of those, I think the last test subject he had for one of his concoctions turned into a blotted green frog-like thing for a week or so."

At Kustaa's nod, Egret bows his goodbyes and makes his way out of the room, quietly whistling some melody he remembers from his past travels. It takes some time for the druid to navigate his way back, but with the help of the guards stationed around he finally gets to the gates, intent on finding Feliani and waiting with her for their companions. That, or going back to the tree he spent the time during the inspection with.

The tiefling briefly thinks back to the orc he saw before, musing if maybe he can see if there are any adventurers around. Maybe even someone from his homeland? There might be use in going around and chatting with people, since they are going to stay here for a while. Not that he's particularly interested in forming social ties, but some light-hearted casual conversations would be pleasant. So far the people around seemed quite accepting.

With these thoughts, he leaves the fort to look for Feliani.

Brindel looks quizzically at Kustaa. "Are you saying animated corpses and skeletons are not undead?"

Kustaa shakes his head no, "No they are just magically animated corpses and skeletons no different than animating a chair -- of course there are actually zombies and skeletons that are undead and those are lot nastier than the ones on the fringes of the marsh. Still we have yet to figure out what is animating those zombies and skeletons or more precisely whom. Maybe you will find out for us."

Thank you sir. Has anyone else been to this region recently that we might ask? Other than our guide of course? I prefer to going into these kinds of situations with as much knowledge as possible.

---

Kustaa rubs his bearded chin then looks at the elf, "What say you Weimin."

Weimen looks thoughtful for a moment then moves over to the other desk checking some of the papers that lay atop it, "No," he shakes his had no, "nothing official anyway."