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-----With the Dread Pirate mentioning a curse put upon Woder, the villain manages a small laugh. With a sigh, he answers, "What treasure we have here in this keep at the moment amounts to little more than silver and copper coins taken from the citizens in the forest. What we accumulated earlier has already been taken away by the dark ones."
-----"We've dealt with Devlin and her kind before. We'll do so again." Sol proclaims before asking a question of his own, "Now that yer bein' helpful an' all, what do ye know of Krondor?"
-----"Of what I know," Woder begins slowly, "Krondor was little more than a pawn to Devlin. The last I heard the dark goddess has claimed his soul and his corpse walks the woods as an undead creature."
-----Raven says, "Krondor turned into a zombie? Then Krondor has gotten his just punishment, even if it was from the dark ones." Raven looks over at the cook, "Make us some breakfast and make it a grand one!"
-----Raven walks over to a chair and sits down, "I bet if we left you here Woder, they would turn you into a zombie for failing them." Raven leans back in the chair, "Why shouldn't we just leave you here to meet your fate?"
-----"Fate?" Woder looks with an amused look at the ranger while wiping at his bloodied nose with his free hand, "Bah! I believe more in making opportunities than believing in fate."
-----The Dread Pirate grumbles irritatedly at the lack of treasure, then looks uneasy at the mention of undead, "Hrrmmm. I don't think I'd trust a cook in the employ of the dark goddess’ minions to fix me breakfast. I'll just stick with rations. And apparently we can’t just leave Woder here, as he says he has to lead us to the general area of the cave, since he can't draw a map. We'll have to take him with us, but maybe he can tell us a bit about these minions of the dark goddess first. Since you've participated in two of her failures, I can't imagine her allowing you another chance. She doesn't seem like the most forgiving type. So yer best chance is that we succeed in thwarting her again. Anything else you can tell us? Maybe why you think we don't have a chance against her minions, when we've so handily defeated her in the past?"
-----Woder shoots the Dread Pirate a disgusted look. He then shrugs and says, "The fact is that Devlin, Nodeus and the others who follow the dark goddess have failed in the past. If you fail at something, what do you do? You either become stronger or have allies who accomplish what you want. Devlin has achieved both. Because she has made a pact with fiends who normally live in the presence of her dark goddess, she has become more powerful. Now she guards the growing essence of her goddess so that once the forests are consumed in darkness, the dark goddess will spring forth on the land."
-----With a look of contempt, the assassin asks of the halfling pirate, "Now do you think you and your companions have a chance against that? Would it not be better to join such a rising threat than to be devour by it?"
-----Seth announces, "We will not change this foul one’s mind. I have heard in the East of physicians that can read a map from a man’s mind. You need to cut out his brain to look at just at the exact moment he is thinking of the place you want a map too. ... I am in need of refreshment and air." With that, he moves outside.
-----Sol rounds once more upon Woder, "Yes, we have a chance! We'll take th' Dark apart again and again if we have to! There is nothing you can say, Woder. Nothing that would justify ye workin' fer these bastards. It makes ye just as foul as them. Gods...They wan't t'bring forth their Dark mistress? How th' hell do ye think life would work wi' that?"
-----The warrior sneers at the captive before turning a grin on Raven, "Don't get too comfortable, Raven. Yer journey will take ye a while. It could be about ten hours before ye make it back here. So if ye want to make it back for the welcome we're goin' t'plan for the followers of the Dark, then ye'd better think about leavin' soon."
-----The Dread Pirate cheerfully thumps Woder on the head one last time, "Arrr, since there be some more forces o' darkness on the way, I think we could just get directions from them, rather than put up with you. Ye'd best think of a way to make yerself more useful before they arrive. Speaking o' dark forces, we'd best go round up those soldiers and put ‘em in some sort of location where we can keep an eye on 'em." The Dread Pirate pauses, reties Woder's free arm, checks the knots, and regags him. On his way out to start dragging soldiers inside, he pauses and picks up Woder's sword and carefully examines it. When finished looking at it, he resumes his task of dragging soldiers.
-----Raven grumbles, "First time I've sit after a battle and ya give me shit." Raven shakes his head, then gets up and then says to group, "Sol thinks that we need to let Sir Greene know of this keep and the location of the cave. I don't want to split-up the group, but Sol thinks we can get help from Greene. What do you all say?" Raven heads towards the kitchen. Raven growls, "I'm going to get something to eat, you all figure out our next move." With that, Raven disappears into the kitchen.
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