Day 105/106 - Musings with a First Sword

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Musings with a First Sword
Days 105/106 (28th/29th May) 
DM Note: You took over the lease on the house on the 17th May, it expires on the 31st. Bazin and Umar’s bless has reduced to +2/+2, you don’t know how long this will last (1st day).
Everyone settles down around a table, keeping Bez Drock plied with food and ale, he may be old – but his appetite is prodigious. Brokev later reports that his horse similarly seems to be able to eat for a herd.
He seems open to chat or help out as much as he can and so a casual interrogation starts.
==Quercuis==
Quercius: “Where was the White Tree in the Temple in Far Haven?”
Bez Drock: “No fuckin’ idea, never clapped eyes on any white sapling, bush or tree. It was only later that Onwen told me that the White Tree was there. ‘Parently it was one of the things that led him to be convinced that betraying the shrine was the right thing to do….dont know how or why though. After all, if the White Tree was there, or nearby – why didn’t it stop the idiot Druids from breaking through the void in the first place?”
Quercius: “Did the White Tree do anything to oppose the Shannah invasion?”
Bez Drock: “Nothing that I noticed….. if anything, it might have helped since most of the defenders seemed pretty much ineffective.”
Quercius: “Did Onwen express any opinion as to why the occupants did not use the power of the White Tree to defend the Temple?”
Bez Drock: “From what Onwen told me, unless they had completed the pilgrimage – none of the temple occupants would even be aware that the White Tree was around. Of course Onwen could also have been wrong or lying to me about the White Tree being there, but I don’t think so.”
Quercius: “How was the White Tree left when all the occupants of the Temple had been disposed of? ie who was left to look after it?”
Bez Drock: “From the way Onwen painted the picture, your question is more – who was left behind for the White Tree to protect…….. and the answer is nobody.”
Quercius: “At what point in proceedings was Onwen promoted to Guardian?  What changed about him when he became Guardian?”
Bez Drock: “Like I said earlier, just before we hit the final room, where we were expecting to face off against some Elves, Onwen suddenly got a whole lot more impressive. He only formally evidenced the manifest when we settled down here, although I think I did see that Holy Symbol of his at some point on the way to Dalzon from Tobar.”
Quercius: “Did he say what had happened to the previous Guardian? Was the previous Guardian in the Temple?”
Bez Drock: “I never asked….and don’t know”
Quercius: “Did he appear to be in communication with the White Tree/any other Wyldwood entity during the attack?”
Bez Drock: “Don’t think so, but to be honest, don’t know”
Quercius: “Did Onwen have a standard Wyldwood type clerical avatar symbol at this point? What happened to it?”
Bez Drock: “Yeah, just a standard Holy Symbol that he used when casting clerical spells.”
Quercius: “After the combat finished what actions did Onwen take?”
Bez Drock: “He was extremely rattled, the fact that we found no Elves shook him badly. He spent the next few hours rushing around the complex insisting they must be hiding somewhere. Given that he had just seen people he had worked with, and possibly called friends, slaughtered,… I guess he was a mite upset…..”
Bez Drock: “Anyhows, we had just made sure that there were no survivors when Saratak himself turns up. Onwen calms down a little and goes off and has a chat with Saratak, when he comes back he announces that he is leaving….. I was a little surprised, and more than a little pissed off, to be told that I would be accompanying him as his bodyguard.”
Bez Drock: “At the time, I didn’t think that much of Onwen to be frank, he had betrayed his friends and his temple, his fairy stories about Elves were obviously fairy stories….. but Shanah told me to guard him, and so I did. Of course, later the Elves made themselves known and I realised that maybe Onwen had been right all along.”
Quercius: “You previously said the White Tree needed to be properly replanted at Far Haven – what does he know about that process? Why would it be necessary?  How was it to be undertaken?”
Bez Drock: “Not sure to be honest, but Onwen told me that the Wyldwood temple would need to be reconsecrated at some point….. but that he would never see it, or the White Tree, so I just put two and two together.”
Quercius: “How did some elves manage to get away?”
Bez Drock: “No fuckin’ idea, Onwen insisted that everyone else was accounted for amongst the corpses, but not the Elves. Funny thing was, we were pretty sure that there were eighteen major druids in the cult, but only counted seventeen corpses, Onwen insisted that the number was correct…..and yeah, I do realise that Onwen could have been the eighteenth.”
Quercius: “Assuming a large part of the temple underground who subsequently buried the entrances and why was the Temple reconsecrated to Shannah afterwards?”
Bez Drock: “That was all Sarataks doing, you will have to go ask him why.”
Quercius: “How did Onwen transport/care for the sapling from Tobar?”
Bez Drock (smiling): “If it is the same as the sapling we brought here, you will soon find out when you dig it up.”
Quercius: “Was the Diamond Fort prearranged before they arrived in White Beach ie did they come straight here or stay in eg the Dunes for a while house hunting?”
Bez Drock: “Before we left Tobar, Onwen said that we would eventually be travelling to White Beach and he had been told there was an ideal property on the market. So I sent an agent up to negotiate our tenancy. It’s been a good place, although whoever commissioned it had more money than sense. It is almost indefensible once someone is through the door.”
==Question from Caradoc==
Caradoc: “Can Bez show us the entrance to the escape tunnel?”
Bez Drock, gets up and leads you down into the small set of rooms under Onwens bedroom. Again, the doorway he reveals is marvellously crafted, even rubbing 20 elves on it might not show it’s presence. He shows the party how to open and close the door from both sides.
Bes Drock: “It is a one way route mind you, takes out outside the city walls.”
Caradoc: “How did you find this place.”
Bez Drock: “Plenty of time, and a few True Sight castings. Course, the agent actually has, or rather had, a set of documents laying out the full plans of this place. We only found that out when we last renewed but decided that hunting for the doors was more fun…. And we weren’t going to be here much longer.”
Caradoc: “Had the plans?”
Bez Drock: “Yup, the plans are now the official property of the Wyldwood Church. The Church has bought this place outright, I simply hate to think exactly how much money that would have required.”
==Question from Joshua==
Joshua: “Did Onwen ever discuss his theory that Hahsandra and Dekator were closely linked - siblings or even the same god originally?”
Bez Drock: “I think he mentioned it a couple of times, to be quite honest I don’t really have much interest in anything but my own church….and keeping on top of the theological mysteries there is enough for me. I do tend to prefer to let my sword, axe or whatever comes to hand do the reasoning.”
Joshua: “As we wish to find more about the Wild/Wyldwood split, could you tell us anything about the splitting of SARN (spit!) from Shanah? Do they still worship the same god (but in a different way) - and what does the god think about it?”
Bez Drock: “Way before my time, all I know is that Sarn worshippers are a load of over violent lunatics that need putting out of their, and everyone else’s, misery. I seem to recall that the breakway of the Sarn sect occurred a couple of hundred years ago….but don’t hold me to that.”
Joshua: “Given that they knew 'this day would come', what has Shanah been doing to prepare for the last 26 years - besides having you babysit Onwen?”
Bez Drock: “Think that might be dangerously above your pay grade, as in above the clouds even.”
Joshua: “Given your past dealing with Saratak - what do you think Saratak's aims are in his constant manipulations? Is he purely interested in defending Far Haven - or might he be concerned with the plight of other cities, and indeed the clans?”
Bez Drock: “Yeah, he is a manipulative bastard, and possibly slightly mad, but I have never been in any doubt that he is extremely protective of the Clans….. am quite surprised by his driving them away recently….”
Bez Drock: “Will ask him when I see him….if I get the chance.”
Jochua: “Any intel on the Lizardmen? Other than their interest in the Dark Temple, they have been very 'quiet' - suspiciously so.”
Bez Drock: “Agreed, totally agreed, but no intel on my side, and there is too much going on for me to spend time finding out.”
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