Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

The Twenty First of Elnu-hamba [Elnu Descendent], Year Unknown

One of the first things one learns upon going to war is that there are some wounds that are wholly in the hands of God and His angels, and Hughhas been struck down by one leaving him passing between waking and sleeping at all hours of day and night requiring that someone be with him constantly, to offer food and water or to see to his chamber pot. There are whispers in the ranks, nothing loud enough to trace, but heard just the same.

'Perhaps it might be best to leave off the leech's visits.'

'He would not want to live as less than a whole man.'

They say that war makes brothers and you have found it so, but it is just as true that the whiff of the sickroom has lost as many bothers and more than battle made. You bite back a sigh and almost wish you could hate them for it. All of you are so very few here and so very lost.

A small hand tugs at your sleeve. That you had not heard Inge come in speaks more of your distraction than any particular skill on her part. "There is other healing... special healing."

It does not take much thought to figure out which word she is dancing about. "Magic healing?"

"Yes," she breathed and sits across from you, seemingly unbothered by the thin straw cushions over the hard stone chair.

Truth be told you are not sure how to feel about that. If someone had asked you three months ago if you were willing to trust the healing of your body and the health of your soul to some hedge witch or cunning folk you would have said no and cursed them for good measure, but you are weary and not just from rowing, weary of mind and soul, weary of fear and ever being on your guard. Prayer does not steel your soul against temptation, if anything you come away from it contemplating God with more questions than answers. Perhaps that is the answer, seek what this land is before you judge it.

"Life, green-growing, red-flowing," Inge's voice takes on an almost sing-song tone, like she is recounting something learned by rote. "We all have life-soul, have magic. It's not... wrong."

You wish you could ask the man on the bed, the last magic he had seen was the walking dead trying to wring the life out of him, but at the day's end you are his lord and so must judge for better or for worse. The question remains where could you find such a healer...


The Twenty Second of Elnu-hamba [Elnu Descendent], Year Unknown

Alas the answer is nowhere, or at the very least not anywhere you can find them. The servants in the king's hall claim ignorance, one of the guards whom you had eventually paid off with silver sends you to one of his distant kin who is nothing more than a herbalist. There is no healing to be found among the bunches of pungent herbs and dead flowers Inge explains. The man would have been offended if he were not frightened of you and of her in equal measure.

Yet as evening flows in warm velvet shadows over the streets of Apuku you find your answer where you had started, or at least you find an answer. "I have need of the services of a skilled warrior and that you are a foreigner is perhaps all the better, yes..." The sorcerer Ohun strokes his beard thoughtfully. "Something has disturbed the stones of a holy place on the slopes of Mount Ikoru, be it outlaw, beast or Lonely Folk, bring word of what it is and in exchange before you even head out I shall heal your man."

Though you know not what 'Lonely Folk' are you do not ask that, but instead cut to the heart of the matter. "Why do you judge a stranger would be best to bring you news?"

"Because you are unlikely to spread rumors about whatever you find up there," the mage replies, then quickly presses on. "So are you interested in such a task?"

[] No, you are not a sellsword, still less the errand boy of a strange king's servants

[] Yes, healing Hugh will be a weight off your mind and you are not even asked to fight, only to scout

[] Write in

OOC: Welp you failed to find a healer in the city, but there is other stuff happening in the background.