Jardel rode Aistlin over to Humus and the Ogre. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg he dismounted. Sheathing his sword he stood in front of Humus and spoke in an angry voice pointing to the body of the slain knight of blood lying in the dirt. "By Heimdall! Humus, you disappoint me. What HONOR shows the son of Strum Giantbane by initiating and accepting an honorary combat challenge of this Knight, yet breaking word at first strike, by inviting decietful and cowardly intervention by others. If memory serves me right, I quote you to saying 'I find just, noble, and honorable causes to fight for'. This was certainly NOT honorable. Certainly we must fight together to defeat this evil. From Culdat I would expect this, but not from you. In my eyes you have blemished the family name Giantbane."
"There is no hoonor to be foound in the taking of life", Da Ghiri replied. "Whether the slaying be ritualized in oorder to make it moore palatable or simple, brutal warfare, the only hoonor to be found heere is in the saving of theese people. I believe Humus has acquitted himself well, and Culdat deserves no such slur."
Jardel layed an arm on Humus shoulder to lessen the extent of his reprimand "Only time will grant you wisdom to atone for your actions. Humus, I suggest you to take care of our prisoner - I am sure you will know what is just. We must gather more information about Olar and his minions. Perhaps Da Ghiri could tell us if Olar posesses anything valuable or magical. I presume his skills might tell us this."
The priest shrugged. "I have no such ability at the mooment, beyond my simple perception, but if we stay heere the night I will see what I may do in the moorning. For now I may offer aid to oour companions or any villager who requires healing".
Scanning the near area the holy knight looked at the Ogre and the civillians, attempting to detect the presence of any evil left. He turned to the civillians and raised his arms to speak. "Men and women of the village of Valmour. Safety is here at least for now. Should any of you be injured, please come forth to have healing administered. We have members skilled in the teachings and lore of medicine. Kothas, please see to your friends and family."
Hearing Jardels angry words, Humus replied bluntly, "Tis true that honor combat was initiated, but you wound me by saying that by my hand the honor combat was broken. Honor combat was already broken when Kothas and Da Ghiri intervened. I know that I encouraged Kothas there at the end, but that was after he had already fighting Olar." As Humus speaks his voice gets louder and angrier, "What should I do, turn my back on my opponent to chastise my fellows ? Or should I maybe turn my blade on them when they intervene ? I did not know that stupidity was a requirement for honor." Turning back to watch over his prisoner, he added quietly, "I cannot control the actions of my fellows. All I can do is the best I can when things go differently than expected. Given time, you too will see this. Then you too will be faced with a choice of what to do in a lose-lose situation. I am not proud of what has been done here, but his defeat was necessary. The villagers had to be saved."
Making sure that all threats had been taken care of, Caladan started to remove his weapons and his chain mail. "Please excuse me for a moment, I find it easier to control the magical energies without metal, in fact I find it impossible to cast spells while wearing any form of armor. I have some minor magic that will tell me whether any one here is carrying any magic." Caladan started to chant in the arcane tongue of magic and his hands moved in a complicated pattern. His eyes started to glow with inner blue energy and for the first time everybody was able to see his eyes, "Okay, now I'm able to see whether items are magical or not for a short time, don't mind my eyes, they always do this, you should have seen me right after my accident, I would start to glow every time a mage cast a spell near me, now only my eyes and a few of the larger scars on my body glow when a detect magic spell or other divination spell is cast."
As a measure of comfort the older warrior addressed Humus in a soothing deep voice. "Humus, it was not my intention to judge you, for this only the gods can do. You of all people should know what an honorary single, in this case mortal combat means. Upon your committing to such cause, it is your DUTY to inform others NOT to intervene. Make the purpose of your intentions audible ! Therefore the others I cannot fault. Tis true though, once the blade has been drawn, to finish your melee. However, I sternly object to your labeling the situation or myself as a Paladin with the word stupidity. I do not make promises I cannot keep. Effective use of the brain in combat is just as valuable as wielding your blade. One should not take such challenge lightly, especially if the strength or truthfulness of ones opponent is unknown. Who made you accept this challenge ? No one. Be smart. Next time just attack and don't commit! Beware, for evil will NOT adhere to these rules of combat, which I on the contrary ultimately represent. I bear you no grudge Humus - trust me ! I value your skills. I am merely giving you advice, as a party member - perhaps even as a friend." Turning to the party, "I am proud of ALL of us, how we managed our first combat encounter together. This boosts my hope for further success on our mission. Should anybody feel agitated by my past actions or words - please do speak to me ... you too Kethas. I am no beast ... only the burden of this journey does weigh heavily on my shoulders." After watching Caladan cast his spell, "Good work Caladan. Strip Olar of all earthly possessions. Hopefully your divination will render some useful items ! Someone should guard and interrogate the Ogre." Pointing to two guards, "I want you two to take the deceased knights bare body and find an acceptable location to bury it."
Walking over to the villagers, Jardel moved in stride with DaGhiri "Priest, you speak of wisdom and your insight is warranted. Forgive me if I have in any way teinted your friends name. By no means had I malice thoughts considering Culdats profession. I have seen plenty of Halflings to understand their curious nature and I am sure he does not receive his name - Manyfingers - for being an extraordinary musician. His time to show his skills and his value to this mission will come and for that we all shall be thankful." Finding a suitable spot of dry grass, Jardel removed his helm, shield, gauntlets and gloves. He unbuckled his small square leather pack, attached to a belt fastening the white toga to his waist. Retrieving some cloth, several small vials with salves, oils and herbs, he began administering his healing lore to any approaching villagers displaying simple wounds. "Da Ghiri, perhaps you could lend an eye to the more serious wounds?"
Young Humus still contemplated his recent actions, as he walked over to Jardel, not stisfied with the outcome of the discussion. "Actually Jardel, my challenge and the knights acceptance WAS the audible intentions of combat. You yourself just said that you heard and understood it for what it was. Do you think that Kothas - serving in the palace for all this time - did not know what was going on either ? If so, you do HIM great dishonor. You also do ME great dishonor by reminding me of duties. Olar was obviously a knight. Do you wish me to blindly rush in and attack when courtesy is REQUIRED to all knights ? That would bring disgrace upon myself. It is true that I made the formal challenge - with the intent of honorable combat. However, my blade was not the first to strike Olar - Kothas' was - and at that time, the chance for honorable combat was lost, and it became a free for all. I could have pulled back letting Olar and Kothas fight it out and then come back when one of them was dead, or I could have helped Kothas so that he might live and serve the cause. Either way, honorable combat would not occur after Kothas blade struck. Either Kothas would be dead on the ground - and the knight not at his peak, or personal honor would be lost - but the cause might be saved. The only way that I now save face is that I am - and have always been - serving the cause. You will see Jardel that things do not always go as expected - even at the best of times. Furthermore, I do not label the situation or yourself as stupid. Honor must be tempered with intelligence and wisdom - lest it lose all meaning. If we blindly follow honor there would be no knights in the land. Each one would be riding off to challenge the most fearsome dragon in the land by him or herself - and be killed in the process. What honor is there in that?"
Kothas stepped forward and placed his hands upon each of the squabblings shoulders, "My friends," his voice boomed, "We are friends, remember ? Let us rejoice in putting a halt to this evil ones plans, you are both right, it was only dishonorable if you looked at it a certain way, it was totally honorable in another, he stopped the possible rape and death of innocent people, my people !"
After finishing he walked around, checking the corpses of the zombies, to make sure they were truly dead. Only a few villagers were slightly wounded, mostly bruises and easily patched up. They appeared to be in shock at the events, rambling about an army of undead! Asmodeus coming! Giant humans threatening!
Caladan picked up the blood knights sword, "This sword is enchanted with some very powerful magic. Which enchantments that have been placed on it, I cannot tell, but perhaps I can discover the school of the magic cast on the sword. Oh, the armor is magical too, but I fear it is too large for any of us." Caladan looked over the ogre and the civillians before he once again concentrated on the sword. Meanwhile Culdat wandered off inside the buildings, looking around at everything.
Later, as the party was resting, Humus approached Jardel again. "I wish to show you that things are not always black and white. My father did preach long and hard to me about honor, virtue, and duty, but he also opened my eyes about how honor cannot be served in some situations. Here is one of the tests that he gave me. I hope that it will open your eyes some to - even if for a moment. You have pledged yourself to the crown. One day in the palace, a man is on trial for a crime that he claims that he didn't commit. There is conflicting evidence and you feel like he didn't do it. The king does not agree and sentences the man to swift death - and asks you to perform the task. You know that your stroke would be clean and swift so that the man would not suffer any, but you still strongly feel that he didn't do it. You may decline the kings request, but then an executioner that is known for taking three or four swings before the neck is fully severed, leaving the person in agony while the executioner is hacking away. No matter what, the man will die - unless you free him - fighting your way through the guards and bringing disgrace upon yourself and your family. No matter what, you will lose honor - killing a guy that you don't think is guilty - going against the crown - or letting someone suffer. The execution is to be performed immediately and there cannot be any more time to collect evidence for or against him - what would you do? Think about it and tell me later."
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