Book 1: Act 4 - Against the Stag Lord

[Phlale]

Arenhal unties the body, attempting to hold his breath. "You're well and done with this load," he says to the pack horse. A few staggered steps and he has to exhale, and he catches a whiff of the pungent body.

[Vardaen]

Somehow Arenhal got the stinky job, and with some help unhooks he corpse and hauls it toward the river.

Calanthir stands shouting, and calls to the bridge and Davik. The water begins to swirl and ripple under the broken bridge. After a moment a drowned figure rises from the depths and stands atop the flowing river. The corpse figure of Davik turns his gaze on you. "REVENGE!" He hoists his long weapon into the air threateningly.

[Trogdor]

"Right then," Cal says, taking an involuntary step back. "Let's get that body in the water." He moves to help Arenhal toss what's left of the Stag Lord into the river.

[Vardaen]

Cal ask for a bit of help and Valen moves and pushes the corpse forward. The body of the Stag Lord rolls into the river with a splash. Davik Nettles glides across the water and scoops up the corpse of the Stag Lord and drags him down below the waves with a mournful wail that sounds almost peaceful.

The water roils and bubbles for a moment as both figures vanish into the mirky depths of the river. A few moments later Davik's Ranseur washes up on the shore at your feet. The weapon's blade is a pale blue, glowing ever so softly suggesting its magical qualities.

OOC

Quest Completed.

You already got the 400XP but now you have a +1 ranseur as well for your reward and the crossing is safe once more.

For what its worth, you could have tossed the corpse any place in the river and Davik Nettle would have shown up.

Daviks Story

Not so long ago, a retired Brevic engineer named Davik
Nettles ran a simple but profitable toll bridge across a
narrow reach of the Shrike River. He made no judgments
on those who chose to use his bridge—as long as they had
the coin, be they bandit or trapper, he would allow them to
cross the Shrike. As this crossing was the only significant
one to be had over the Shrike in the Kamelands, Davik
made a fair amount of money for his hard work.
Unfortunately, not long after he finally made enough
to recoup the cost of building the rope bridge, the bandit
king known as the Stag Lord rose to power on the north
shore of the Tuskwater downriver. When the Stag Lord
paid a visit to the crossing and informed Davik that not
only would the men bearing his badge be granted free
passage over the bridge, but that Davik would pay the Stag
Lord two-thirds of his monthly take in return for the Stag
Lord's “protection,” Davik made a foolish error. He not
only refused the Stag Lord's offer, but ran the bandit and
his men off downriver with the aid of his three slavering
hounds. After the incident, Davik rewarded himself with a
meal of fresh fish and went to bed early. Not surprisingly,
the Stag Lord did not stay away for long.
Later, in the dead of night, the bandits returned.
They surrounded Davik's house and lit the
building on fire with flaming arrows. Davik
woke in terror as his dogs' frantic barking
alerted him, but as he stumbled out of his
burning home and fled for his bridge,
the bandits awaited him. More flaming
arrows rained down, killing his
hounds and wounding Davik. With
his nightshirt aflame, the doomed
bridge keeper tumbled down
the path toward the river. After
dousing himself with water,
he clambered up to the bridge
and tried to escape to the
north shore. Unfortunately,
the bandits had followed,
and as Davik passed the
midpoint on his bridge, the
Stag Lord cut one of the ropes that held
the bridge intact. The bridge immediately
collapsed, plunging the shrieking Davik
into the deep, icy water. By the time
his body lodged downriver in the debris of his ruined
bridge, he had drowned.
Onshore, the bandits watched, gleefully chuckling, their
leering shadows dancing before the hovel's flames as it
collapsed into cinders. The Stag Lord returned to his fort,
leaving behind several bandits with the task of rebuilding
the bridge and taking up the positions of toll takers.
Yet one night later, as the remaining bandits argued
over which of them would get to be the “boss” of the
new bridge, Davik rose from the river, an undead spirit
of vengeance. The undead stalked out of the water and
into the bandit camp, swiftly murdering them all and
dragging their bodies into the river. The Stag Lord sent
more bandits to investigate several days later, and when
Davik rose again and killed several of them, three of the
bandits escaped and fled back to report to their lord. The
Stag Lord wisely decided to abandon his plans to rebuild
the bridge (traffic there was never that busy anyway), and
in the months since has all but forgotten about Davik and
his bridge.
Today, Nettles' Crossing is a soggy,
abandoned remnant. A thick, sagging
rope still hangs across the river, all that
remains of the bridge that once spanned
it. A signpost at either end of the ruined
bridge reads “Nettles' Crossing—5
coppers—ring bell for service.” A
rusty bell hangs by each sign. On the
south bank of the river, the crumbled
remains of a burnt-down wooden
building are slowly being overgrown by
encroaching vegetation.

[Trogdor]

Cal walks over and picks up the ranseur, raising it tall. "Thank you," he says to the river, wondering if Davik's spirit is even still there. "And rest in peace."

Then he turns and walks back to the others. "Our good deed has not gone unrewarded. I would guess this was once our revenant's sword. As he no longer has any need of it, he's left it for us. Fancy a pole arm anyone?"

[Phlale]

Arenhal looks at the weapon. "A dangerous looking weapon," he looks to the waters, "I hope that Davik gets what he needs. We have too many undead."

OOC

Trog, a ranseur is a polearm, a spear with wings for pulling mounted men off horses

[mackaber]

Watching Nettle claim the staglord's corpse is a bit gruesome but oddly satisfying sight for the Halfing ranger. He then also examines the polearm "If it's been underwater for so long and still has it's edge it must be magical... but it's soo big"

[Chanur]

Valen offers up a prayer to the Elk Father that Davik may find peace. "Elk Father I pray you take Davik into your kingdom so he may at last feel your embrace." The young priest absentmindedly rubs his holy symbol as he finishes.

"You know if we do end up settling this area I think we should rebuild this bridge and rename it Davik's Crossing." The young priest is a bit sentimental but it goes with his profession. "We did a good thing laying his poor soul to rest I am proud to know you all."

He looks at the polearm its not really for Valen he wouldn't know what to do with it. Shaking his head no he turns back to Harvest giving her a scratch.

[Phlale]

Arenhal takes the ranseur, more because somebody needs to carry it than out of a desire to use it. "Should we go deal with those undead we left at the fort, or return to Oleg's?"

OOC

I vote for selling it

[Trogdor]

"Let's return to Oleg's," Cal says. "From what we were told, the undead at the fort won't bother anyone unless they trespass on the graveyard. We can let them rest in peace for a little while longer before we deal with them."