Greybrook S1|E2 : Burnt Sausage

Greybrook S1|E2

“Burnt Sausage”

Wick rises from his reverie and simply sits at the dining table as the sun rises over Greybrook. The others in the hobbit hole begin to stir awake and lazily go about their morning routines. Jorgen joins Wick at the table with a cup of ale in his hand and rubbing his normal eye. 

Cade Thornbrush, the halfling ranger of Narrowsight Forest, emerges from the basement and immediately goes to the kitchen to make breakfast for himself. Wick and  Jorgen watch him as he takes delight in filling up his plate. They both decide to join him. 

Lia Ithrana walks into the kitchen and asks the trio, “So, what now?” 

The three men shrug as they prepare their food. Flinard opens his door and walks to the head of the dining table. He looks as though he didn’t sleep at all last night. Flinard opens the book that the group brought back from the ritual at the ruined chapel. He’s staring at the last few pages as Wick and Jorgen liberally catch Cade up on the prior night’s event. 

Flinard closes the book and rings the bell to summon everyone to the table. All of the Awakened take their seats with Lia and Aurorka Ithrana sitting on stools in the corner of the dining room. Flinard places both of his hands flat on the table and drums his fingers. 

“What is it old man?” Wick grumbles as he plucks a few strings of his guitar. 

Flinard raises his eyebrows and looks to Wick, “Mr. Wick, it’s seems to be that Marty Ithrana has been taken over by a being that calls itself the Harbinger of the Void.”

“Can we still save Marty?” Lia blurts from the corner while she clings to Aurorka. 

Flinard shakes his head grimly, “No. Mr. Ithrana’s soul was consumed in the process, but his memories are still there. The Harbinger somehow feeds off of them and Marty’s body will slowly waste away into nothingness.” 

“So, what happens then? Does the Harbinger die after Marty’s body is gone?” Jorgen asks while tinkering with Geary’s tail mechanism. The mechanical cat mews as Jorgen corrects a temporary short in the circuitry. 

“I do not know for sure, but I’m sure it’s not that simple,” Flinard states, “It seems that this isn’t the first time that the Harbinger has wreaked havoc on the Material Plane. This book is actually a diary of a Shadar-Kai woman that ended up hating the Raven Queen. The women called herself the Silent Raven.” 

Wick stops strumming and irritation is visible on his face, “How does any of this matter? How do we kill it?”

Flinard nods, “Well, the diary explains that the Raven Queen opened a portal to a pocket dimension similar to the Void and tricked the Harbinger into it. Apparently at the height of its power, the Harbinger was even a challenge for the Raven Queen and she needed her Shadar-Kai champions to help push the Harbinger into the portal. She closed that portal with her champions inside it. One of these champions was the beloved of the Silent Raven and she figured out how to bring the Harbinger back as revenge on the Raven Queen. This all happened a millennia ago.” 

Wick pushes away from the table, “I need some time to think.” He stomps into Flinard’s library and goes into a reverie. 

Flinard dismisses everyone at the table, except for Cade and Jorgen. Lia and Aurorka join them at the table. Cade still being a bit confused on the situation looks to Aurorka. 

“And who might you be, little one?” Cade says with genuine warm in his voice. 

Aurorka gives him small grin, “I’m Aurorka. Are you going to kill the ugly little man?”

Cade looks to Jorgen in confusion at the little girl’s question. Jorgen shakes his head. 

The halfling ranger pats the little girl’s hand, “No, not yet. We will soon enough.” 

Flinard looks to Lia, “We need to get you and Aurorka out of town. This Harbinger has Marty’s memories and there’s no telling how it might use them to hurt you.” 

“I’m not leaving without salting my husband’s bones and burying them,” Lia firmly states. 

Cade understands the elven woman’s wishes, but knows that the city is not safe, “I promise to do just that, once we get you and the little girl to safety. No sense in keeping you in harm’s way.” 

Lia looks deep into halfling’s eyes and decides that he’s right for the sake of Aurorka’s safety. 

“We’ll still need the family nest egg,” Lia looks around the table, “Aurorka and I will not survive long without money to support us.” 

Jorgen grumbles, “We’ll get your money.” 

******

Wick lays his black feather in front him as he sits cross-legged. He hums lowly as he settles into his reverie. The feather slowly rises to stand on the tip of its stem and begins to spin. A silky, soft voice enters Wick’s mind. 

“J’hen Zahd. The White Raven. Wick.” 

“Why did you send me here? Was it just to clean up your messes?” Wick sternly asks of his Raven Queen. 

“Maybe you should have been named the Angry Raven, “ the Raven Queen deepens her voice with an edge to each of her syllables, “I sent you here because this place invites tragedy and with tragedy comes intense memories for my collection! Also, this place must be cleansed of the undead.” 

Wick softens his voice a bit and explains that the Harbinger has been freed from the prison the Raven Queen made for him. 

“I see. So, he’s back,” the Raven Queen pauses, “You stand a chance in attacking him now in his weakened state, but he can only truly be defeated in the Shadowfell. Bring him here and I will dispose of him.” 

Wick’s sigh has a touch of despair in it, “Yes, my queen.” 

******

“WE. ARE. NOT. USING. THIS. GIRL. AS. BAIT!” Cade exacts the words in Jorgen’s direction. 

Jorgen chuckles, “All I’m saying is that she’s the only one that knows what this halfling zombie guard looks like.”

Wick sits back down at the dining room table and as if he hadn’t missed a beat in the conversation, “So, we kill every halfling zombie guard that we see.” 

Cade and Jorgan both nod and shrug in unison. 

“Let’s get to it, then!” Cade walks towards the door and see the town paper’s headline, “You guys lit the forest on FIRE!” 

“Yyyyyeah,” Jorgen rises from his seat and adjusts some settings on this mechanical eye. 

“Hopefully Mr. Cade, your feelings on conservation will come in handy today,” Flinard says from the head of the dining table. 

“Oh, my!” Cade twists open the doorknob and steps outside. 

******

The trio walks down the road towards the Fish Market. Wick is quite amused by all the life bustling around Greybrook. The contrast from his native home in the Shadowfell is as drastic as black and white. All the colors and sounds are almost mesmerizing for him. Jorgen, however, notices that there are a lot fewer guards on patrol than usual. Cade slightly picks up his pace to stay abreast of his companions. 

They reach the Fish Market and see a human guard almost completely passed out at his post. It’s the same cordial guard that came rushing to the scene the night before. Wick’s curiosity is peaked and he jostles the guard awake with a lingering pat on the shoulder. 

“Wha!! Oh, what do you want?” the guard yawns and stretches. 

“Well,” Wick girns with his hand on the guard’s shoulder still, “Young man, why are you so tired?”

The guard mutters under his breath, “Fuckin’ elves,” then continues at normal volume, “My superiors won’t let me end my shift because most of the guards are investigating that fire in the Gladfolk Forest. Wait a tic, you lot weren’t messing about in the forest last night, were you?”

Jorgen and Wick immediately say no in very unconvincing ways. “Right, I think I need to bring you both in for questioning,” the guard begins to bring out his manacles.

Wick with his hand still on the guard’s shoulder, “Isn’t that the place were many young ones run off to fornicate? Isn’t it more plausible that it was a few young lovers knocking over their lamp light?”

“Lamp light?” the guard murmurs to himself as mental gears begin to turn, “The lamplighters! They are always getting drunk on the job and they are always up late. If you don’t mind, I better go speak to that halfling lieutenant that is leading the forest fire case.” The guard stops fidgeting with his manacles and walks off. 

“Sir, if your lieutenant wants to ask us questions,” Jorgen acting the part of a dutiful citizen, “Send him to my shop, Smith & Tinkers!”

“Aye!” the guard nods his head as walks purposefully away. 

“Have a good day, young man!” Wick chides the old human guard.

The guard grumbles through his teeth, “Fuckin’ elves.” 

Jorgen, Wick, and Cade all look to one another as they contemplate the lead on the halfling lieutenant. Perhaps, this is the ugly man that Aurorka is so scared off. 

“We’ll worry about him later,” Cade starts walking, “Let’s get the elven woman’s money.” 

******

In broad daylight, the remains of The Golden Thread stand out like a sore thumb amongst all the perfectly maintained shops. Townsfolk go about their business, but whisper rumors to one another about what could have happened the night before. 

Wick overhears a couple talking about Marty Ithrana cheating on Lia with another woman. Then, Lia killed him in the shop and burned his body out in the Gladfolk Forest. 

Wick leans far into the couple’s personal bubble, “What’s happened here?! Do you know if anyone is handling affairs for this business?!”

“I’m sorry, sir. What are you getting at?” the commoner man shows his befuddlement as well as his genuine curiosity. 

“I made an order with this establishment and I want to know how I am supposed to still get said order,” Wick pretends to be an upset customer. Jorgen and Cade take the opportunity to scope out the area. 

As Wick continues his charade, Cade slips around the back of the boarded up building and Jorgen looks around for any signs of onlookers. The coast is clear, but Cade notices far-off shapes moving in and out of the Gladfolk Forest. It seems that the town guards were still investigating the forest with a fine-toothed comb. 

In front of the shop, Wick is gathering quite a crowd pretending to be a snobby elf that wants his clothing order. A commoner sees the guitar strapped to Wick’s back.

“Hey! You’s a bard?!,” the common yells with glee, “Play us a tune, elfie!” 

Wick takes the opportunity to play in front of a crowd for the first time on the Material Plane, but his Shadowfell tune falls on deaf ears and the commoners boo him as they go back to their daily routines. Wick shoulders his guitar with a little dismay, but joins the others around back once no one is looking.

Jorgen and Wick pretend to consult a map while Cade removes the boards barricading the rear door. Cade makes easy work of the boards and enters The Golden Thread. The stench of dried blood gives the air the taste of iron as the trio enter.  The wreckage is a familiar sight to Jorgen and Wick, but Cade is somewhat astonished at the look of things. 

“Fuck! We didn’t ask Lia where she hid the money,” Jorgen pounds a fist into into his open palm. 

Wick lifts up a table to begin looking around. Cade spots a discolored bit of wood along the far wall above a shelf, “I believe it’s there.” He finds a box filled with neatly stack platinum coins. To the looks of it, the Ithranas saved quite a bit for their planned exodus. 

Jorgen lets out a low whistle in astonishment. Wick looks down in disappointment, “It’s only money? Nothing else?” 

The three of them try to come up with a plan of action and come to a loose understanding. Cade is to take the money back to Lia and Aurorka. While, Jorgen and Wick go to Jorgen’s shops (Smith & Tinkers) for supplies and hopefully to ambush the halfling lieutenant.

******

Cade makes his way back to Flinard’s, but along his way he sees two zombies roughing up a human man just outside of the City Marketplace. His heart pounds with anger at the sight of it and he wants to destroy the two abominations, but he has a mission and he made a promise. Anything that could result in the loss of the Ithrana woman’s money would have to wait. Cade grits his teeth and presses on without helping the man. 

Jorgen and Wick walk the opposite direction towards Smith & Tinkers. Jorgen has them take a shortcut and they walk in front of the Dawn Oak. The rays of the setting sun almost making the leaves look as though they are on fire. The sight of the majestic tree leaves Wick with his mouth hanging open. Never has he seen nature with such beauty and splendor. 

At the same time, Jorgen sees two human guards corralling all of the town’s lamplighters on a street curb. The most notable lamplighter, Whistling Willy, making his voice heard to the guards and anyone within earshot. 

“You can’t just go around arresting people and keepin’ them from their jobs cuz you’s got a hunch!” Whistling Willy berates the closest guard, “Y’all gotta tell us...”

“OH! SHUT UP, WILLY!” the guard complains, “you’re not under arrest! Lt. Hatcher just wants a word with you lot before you go about your business tonight!”

Jorgen grins because his shop is just around the corner and he feels that his modest plan to get the halfling lieutenant into his shop might pay off. Wick and Jorgen make their way to Smith & Tinkers. As they enter the shop, Jorgen scolds Wick for touching the tools and lays down the ground rules for his establishment. 

******

“AAAnd where are the other two, Mr. Cade?” Flinard sits with his arms crossed as Cade explains their plan of action. Cade hands Lia her box of platinum and she hugs him with appreciation. 

“Aye! They believe that this halfling lieutenant will show up at Jorgen’s shop and, if he’s a zombie, we’ll kill him,” Cade states the plan in a his most straightforward manner. 

“And if he’s not a zombie, those two plan on fabricating lies about events that they are both exactors of to a city official,” Flinard lays both his hands flat on the dining table. 

Cade backs up to the door, “RIGHT! I should go catch up with them!” 

Flinard looks at Lia, “By the gods!”

******

On the way to Smith & Tinkers, Cade realizes Jorgen never told him where Smith & Tinkers was located. Nevertheless, Cade makes his way back to the City Market and sees the young man that the zombies were hassling. The young man’s nose is still bleeding a bit, but there is a lot of dried blood about his chin and throat. Cade notices that the young man’s pockets are turned inside out as though someone took everything and anything the young man had on him. 

“What happened to you, laddie?” Cade asks as gently as he can. 

The young man throws his handkerchief on the ground, “I got beat up! What the hell does it look like?!”

Cade reaches into coin pouch and produces two gold coins, “You look like you could have a bit of luck go your way. Take it.” 

The six-foot young man stands up and shakes the halfling’s hand, “Thank you, sir. Who are you?”

“The name is Cade Thornbrush, Ranger of Narrowsight Forest,” Cade walks off with an easy wave of good-bye. 

Cade stumbles into Geary, Jorgen’s mechanical cat. For a moment, Cade is perplexed and slowly realizes that he’s meant to follow the mechanized creature to his companions. 

“Following a metal cat,” Cade mutters to himself, “Alright.” 

******

Jorgen gleefully works away at some contraption as Wick strums away at his guitar. Cade knocks on the door. Wick draws his sword. Jorgen opens the door without looking down and shuts it in Cade’s face.

“You gotta be fuckin’, “ Cade knocks again, “Look down!”

Jorgen opens the door again, “Why didn’t you say so the first time!”

The three of them wait for about 2 hours before becoming restless. The sun fully set an hour ago and from the looks of it, the lamplighters haven’t been released from their custody yet. 

“I don’t think this approach is the best use of our time,” Wick stands with his hand on the hilt of his scimitar. 

Cade hops to his feet, “I have to agree. I’ve never been much for laying in wait for my quarry.” 

Jorgen slumps his shoulders and pockets the small device that he cobbled together. 

“Well then, where do we start?” Jorgen asks as opens his door. 

******

“I’M NOT DRUNK, YOU POINTY-EARED FUU,” Whistlin’ Willy takes another snort of his flask,” You pointy-eared fool.”

Wick scoffs and lets Jorgen have a turn, “Willy, come on. What did the guards ask you?” 

“They didn’t ask us shit!” Whistlin’ Willy gargles, “They just kept us there until that smug halfling bastard showed up. Then he didn’t even ask us anything. He just told them to let us go!” 

“Did you hear them say anything to each other,” Jorgen keeps prying for information as Cade keeps a look out.

“That Lt. Hatcher said something about the closed down sausage factory on Crag Street, you know the one!” Willy lifts his lighting pole, “Who knows up he gets up to in there!”

“Did I hear sausage?!” Cade pats his belly. 

******

Crag Street is a relic of a street. This part of Greybrook died once the Fish and City Markets were established and the townsfolks gravitated toward the more scenic shopping areas. From Crag Street, anyone can see the prison, Ishtyr Briar, sitting on top of the cliffs overlooking the Dancing Sea. Hardly a sight that fosters a welcoming atmosphere. 

The trio stands in the street just outside of the old sausage factory. The lamplighters haven’t managed to light this street yet. The moonlight giving Cade and Jorgen just enough light to not trip over things. Wick scans the whole the area with his night vision. All seems quiet. 

Cade sneaks up to the front door of the sausage factory and can hear the tune of someone whistling. Wick, not wanting to play cat and mouse, kicks in the door and the whistling turns into an amused chuckle. Then, silence falls as heavy as the darkness inside the dilapidated factory. 

“I can see three doors,” Wick states to Cade and Jorgen.

Jorgen shrugs, “Well, pick one.” 

Wick kicks in another door and the sound of scratching fills everyone’s ears for a moment. “It sounds like something is in there, but nothing looks important,” Wick backs away from the door. 

“Let me have a look!” Cade lights a torch and pulls out his short sword. 

Cade takes a glance into the room seeing nothing, but a few old tables with broken boxes and crates. There is also a huge sausage extruder  that is seemingly in tiptop shape with fresh blood dripping from it and pooling on the floor. In his shocked curiosity, Cade steps further into the room to get a better look at the extruder. 

The scratching sound builds up again as 12 crawling hands disguised as various rats and other vermin come out of their hiding spots. Cade swings his short sword at the closest one killing instantly and tries to thump another with his torch, but misses. 

Jorgen fiddles with a few things on his utility belt, but decides to blasts the closet one to him with a fire bolt from his eye and tries to stomp on another as he advances into the room. The rest of the crawling claws close in on Jorgen and Cade. The undead hands slash out at any bit of flesh that they can sink their sharp nails into. Wick rushes up along side his companions as he lashes out with his scimitar. The trio dispatch the crawling claws, but Jorgen suffered a horrible gash on his leg and faints. 

He awakens only moments later to Wick and Cade searching the room. All the while, the ominous whistling never stops. Wick, however, comes to a complete halt as narrows his gaze on a window adorned with leather flaps. Jorgen pulls a device from his pocket and brings a small metal spider to life. The spider glows as bright as any torch and Jorgen commands it go through the window. The spider and its comforting light disappear almost immediately. Cade decides to slowly pull back a leather flap. 

A halfling zombie is standing on a large metal table. He’s whistling and swing a load sling. The window opens up to a large shoot made with wooden rollers. This must have where the workers dropped packages for shipping. Cade takes no pause and jumps down the shoot. He comes to stop with light spider between his legs. The sound of the rollers alert Cade that Wick is making his way down too. 

Wick and Cade stare at the halfling zombie and he smiles down at the spider of light. Jorgen takes position at the leather-flapped window, but stays on the other side. 

“You all have some neat little toys,” the halfling zombie laughs, “My name is Hatcher. Do you mind, if I know yours?”

Wick blurts, “Yes!”

“I am Cade Thornbrush, Protector of the Narrowsight Forest, Hunter of the Undead,” Cade draws his short sword and widens his stance. 

“Well, well. Isn’t that nice?” Hatcher swings his sling harder and launches a rock into Wick’s chest. The zombie halfling jumps from the table as more crawling claws comes out of the shadows. 

Wick surrounds himself in shadows and teleports right behind Hatcher as the halfling zombie startes to open the gate to the loading dock. The shadar-kai takes a swipe at Hatcher, but misses him by mere centimeters. Sparks fly into the air as the scimitar strikes the chain pulley, instead. Cade hops up on to the table and dispatches a few of the crawling claws. 

The crawling claws close in on Cade and Wick. A few race up the wooden shoot towards Jorgen. The artificer decides to make short work of them and blast the wooden shoot with a fire bolt and the whole shoot ignites into flame burning the crawling claws on it. 

Hatcher continues to pull on the chain to open the gate and does a summersault away from Wick, but the shadar-kai swordsman is too quick and delivers a hideous gash down Hatcher’s back. 

“Nice to meet you all, but I must be going,” Hatcher manages to chide through clinched teeth of agony. 

Cade fends off two more crawling claws, but one manages to slash his face. Jorgen shoots the crawling claw that he can see as his fire grows larger. The trio make short work of what’s left of the crawling hands and exits the now burning sausage factory. They run from the scene back to Flinard’s. 

The fire engulfs three neighboring buildings and many of the lamplighters see the trio running from the scene. Flinard is still awake when they get back. 

“Well?” Flinard questions the three out of breath men. 

Wick coughs out, “The halfling zombie saw our faces!”

“And he knows my name,” Cade gasps as he holds his side. 

Jorgen takes a deep breath and steadies himself, “And he got away.”

Flinard lays his head on the dining table, “FFFFFFFUCK.” 

******

The fire lights up the night sky and the Harbinger stands on top of a nearby building. His muscle twitch and bulge a tiny bit as he breathes in the destruction. A smile spreads across his face as he watches people run out of their homes to look and the befuddled fire patrol scramble to put out the flames. 

“Chaos in the streets is one of my favorite treats,” the Harbinger absorbs the destructive energies created by the fire. 

Hatcher stares up at him, “If Thorn knew you were going to be poet instead of an attack dog, he never would have summoned you. I have half a mind to tell him you ain’t doing your job! They could have killed me back there!”

The Harbinger leaps down, “Your demise would have fed the Void nicely.” 

“That just makes me uncomfortable,” Hatcher backs away, “Whose side are you on anyways?”

“The Void takes no side,” the Harbinger relishes the chaotic energies, “but the Void will take everything.”

Hatcher skeptically nods his head, but ever so slightly moves away from the Harbinger.