Niles Nilton

[Caspian]

***This is a closed thread, please! Thank you!***

Brother Niles Nilton just finished planting his fresh summer lilies. From his small, rural temple, surrounded by farms near the city of Triboar, his first placement as a priest of Chauntea was everything he hoped it would be! Praying for rain, working in the garden, experimenting with hybrid flowers, and blessing his congregation of farmers and their families.

On his knees, Niles stuck his hand shovel in the dirt of the flower bed and opened his copy of Your Love! Your Life! Your Garden! "Hmm," he said to himself as he flipped through the pages. "Oh, here it is. Water twice and day and----"

Suddenly, two carriages with a small armed guard stopped abruptly in front of him, kicking up dust covering him in a thick, brown cloud. A round man with oily skin stepped out quickly from the first carriage. It was the Lord Protector of Triboar! He pointed a stubby cigar at Niles. "You there! You're that new whatchamacalit, aren't you?"

Still on his knees, Niles looked up. He coughed twice, still holding his gardening pamphlet. "Sir? Oh yes, I'm the new priest of here in Triboar. My name is----"

"Great, great! Here, Reverend, I need a favor. I got an emergency call to go to Neverwinter and I need someone to watch our city's favored boars. The rangers that normally take care of them are out patroling the hills for orc scouts, so they can't help me. But you're a nature priest or something, and that's good enough for me!"

"Sir, I'm a priest of Chauntea. We don't exactly----"

"Great, great! Cantu!" he spoke incorrectly. "Exactly the clergyman I was looking for!" Removing his cigar and placing two fingers in his mouth, he gave a loud whistle. The second carriage opened and three guards rushed out, each being lead by a boar on a leash.

"Put them inside, men." He turned back to Niles as the guards took the boars inside. "Now, I'm sure you know all about caring for boars, being a priest of Shauntie or whatever, so no use wasting anymore time." He turned away from Niles, who was still on his knees. "Let's go men! Chop-chop!"

The men came running back from inside the temple. The Lord Protector and his escorts hopped back into their carriages and sped off, covering Niles with the same brown cloud of dust that had enveloped him earlier. He coughed. The sound of boars was heard from inside the building.

"Damnation," Niles said to himself, getting to his feet and walking inside. "Damnation."

In the distance three darkly dressed men looked on from the other side of a far hill to the Temple of Chauntea, waiting for twilight to fade to nightfall.

[Caspian]

A Difficult Evening

***This is a closed thread, please. Thank you!***

Niles Nilton looked at the three massive boars tied securely to a stone pillar in the rear of his study in the Temple of Chauntea. "My, oh my!" he said to himself, "What am I going to do with you three?"

Suddenly a loud banging came from the door of the temple, which had been closed for well over an hour. Twilight had passed and Niles was walking around in his red-rose-and-wheat-crested jammies, the symbol of Chauntea. He held a candle in his right hand and a glass of warm milk in the other. "So sorry, friend! But the temple is closed. How about you come back right-ready in the morn---"

His words were cut off by an even louder bang from the door. Niles looked back to the boars, tied far away on the other side of the building. He began walking in to the door of the temple. "Maybe you gentlemen didn't hear me, the temple is---"

"Hey, youze in there" a voice from outside interupted, "Open up! We gotz something for ya."

Approaching the door, Niles leaned in a bit closer. "Do you, now? What on earth would you have at this hour of night?"

"Yeah, well the Lord Protector wanted us to give ya some of extra feed for his boars. We've come by to, ah, drop it off, if ya know what I mean."

Niles set down his milk and candle, unlatching the locks and beginning to open the door. "Well, how thoughtful of you to come by so late! I was right dizzy trying to figure out what boars eat for---"

As Niles opened the door, three large men bearing the crest of Bane towered over him. One of them cracked their knuckles.

"My, oh my!" exclaimed Niles.

[Caspian]

An Unexpected Loss

***This is a closed thread, please. Thank you!***

"Why, you three don't look like servants of the Lord Prot----"

Whack! One of the Banite thugs, a good foot-and-a-half taller than Niles, punched him squarely in the face. Niles fell hard on his back.

The tallest thug spoke to the others, "Go search the temple and find me those boars. Then we'll see what else this sissy-priss temple has for us to take, ya know? I'll watch miss princess here."

Niles struggled to his knees, his eyes out of focus and holding a now bleeding nose. "Well, I'll say! That was mighty rude of---"

Whack! The tall thug bashed the top of his head with his massive fist. Niles slumped again to the floor, motionless. From the back of the temple came a spectrum of sounds: yells, barks, snorts, the ripping of cloth and the clanging of chains. It went on for some time and then ceased.

"Boss!" one of the thugs shouted from the other side of the temple. "You may want to get in here. We have a little bit of a problem."

The large thug looked down at Niles, unconscious and sprawled on the floor. "Yeah, I'll be right there! Keep your skirts on, ladies." He walked down the long hallway of the Chauntea leading to the rear of the temple and the priest quarters. As he turned the corner, he came upon an unexpected sight: Not only were the boars still chained securely to the pillar, but one held the bleeding neck of a limp Banite thug in his jaws. Blood pooled thickly on the floor.

The tall thug looked to his remaining counterpart who was pale and shaking. "Well, hells," he said flatly.

[Caspian]

Banites Bail

***This is a closed thread, please. Thank you!***

"Boss, what do we do," the scared thug asked, shaking as his friend hung lifeless and pale in the jaws of one of the boars."

The tall, Banite thug started walking up to the boars chained to the wall. "I tell you what weze do, we teach these here boars a lesson abo---"

The boars quickly tensed their chains, snorting, and barking loudly! Chomping at the tall thug they scuffed their hooves on the floor! The large boar dropped the dead body out of his jaws and snapped fiercely at the tall thug who immediately stopped in his tracks. The other thug whimpered and instinctively stepped away.

"Or, ah, or maybe not. Maybe we show the high priest the body and tell him what happened. We can raid the place for loot, though. In fact, go and see what youze can find in the temple, and I'll see if I can get the body."

As the smaller thug left, the tall thug eyed the scene. The boar had loosed his friend's corpse, which was now lying between the two. He could easily reach his foot, but the boar could easily reach his neck again. And the last thing he wanted was a tug of war with a prized boar using his friend's body.

The tall thug slowly began to lower. The boar stood motionless, it's large tusks only a foot or so above the thug's bloody, open neck. The tall thug started to take a knee. The boar still did not move, but kept its gaze on him. The tall thug reached out his hand, inches away from the ankle of his dead friend. "C'mon," he wispered to himself, "stay sti---"

In an instant the large boar snapped down and latched his jaws around the neck of the dead body! The tall thug reached just as fast, grabbing his friend's ankle! The other boars barked fiercely as the corpse became a tight rope between the two, tense and outstretched a foot above the temple floor!

"Aww, hells!" he said, turning his neck around to shout to the other Banite thug. "Hey, get back in here! I'm going to need some more muscle!"

[Caspian]

The two thugs pulled tightly on the ankle of their dead friend. Sweat dripped down their faces as the boar held firm. After minutes of pulling, however, the flesh around the tusk of the boar began to break. At last, the two thugs fell backward, landing on their backs with the body of their dead companion now a few feet from the three boars, who snorted loudly.

"Bring him in the main room," the large thug said, both of them getting to their feet. "And let's see what else is here for the takin'!" The two thugs moved back in the sanctuary of Chauntea.

Niles remained motionless, slumped on the floor. His Chauntea-crested jammies shimmered slightly in the moonlight that slid slowly through the temple windows. The tall thug looked around, "Now what here can we take so the boss doesn't rip our throats out for not getting those boars?"

"I'll go check the side rooms," the thug said, dropping his companions body.

A few minutes passed with the sound of opening and closing drawers and chests. "Youze found anything?" the tall thug asked.

"Just four gardening manuals, some cornbread mix, and a three pouches of Mrs. Tuttersnaps Tasty Trail Mix."

"Really," the tall thug mumbled to himself. "I love Mrs. Tuttersnaps. Yeah, grab those. Now, what else do we have here that weeze can snag?" Looking around the room, his eyes fell on the holy relic of the temple: a large, golden cup engraved with the symbol of Chauntea.

"Heh," he snorted, walking up to the altar. "Here we go."

[Caspian]

A Temple Trashed

Niles woke up with a pounding headache on the Chauntea Temple floor. Sunlight came through the windows from the east. Putting one hand to his head and the other to the floor he slowly got to his feet. "My, my!" he mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes. "What horrible dreams I ha---"

His eyes came into focus, looking around the sanctuary. Everything was trashed: pews overturned, plants thrown to the floor, pots smashed, holy books tattered, banners torn, and lamps overturned. "Damnation!" he cried. "Damnation!"

Looking down, he noticed an uneveningly folded piece of paper at his feet. At closer inspection, it appeared to be a letter, unopened, bearing a crude, wax seal of Bane.

[Caspian]

An Unlovely Letter

Niles opened the crude, wax seel of the letter and held it close to his face. The letter was written in scattered, elementary handwriting with many of the words mispelled. He read it slowly.

Dear Miss Sissy-Priss, youze's boarz cauzed me and my crew some trouble, so weez had to take it out on your temple. We would have taken youze out as well, but we know youze is just some sissy-princess who playz in his precious lil' priss garden all day, so we decided to leave youze be. Hope you don't miss anything weez took from youze's sissy-girly temple.

Youze's Truly, Your Local Banites

PS: Thankz for the Mrs. Tuttersnaps Trail Mix. Thatz some good stuff, you know?
PSS: We had to take out some of our anger on youze's petunias. You'll get over it. Don't make us do the same to youze.
PSSS: Don't worry about youze's prissy lil' relic. Goes and by a new one, you girly-princess garden-sissy!

Brother Niles eyes went wide! His petunias! His Mrs. Tuttersnaps Tasty Trail Mix! His rel---

Niles Nilton looked up to the altar of the temple of Chauntea. The large, golden chalice encrested with his god's symbol of a red rose and wheat grain was gone.

"My, oh my!" Niles said to himself. "This just ain't right!"

[Caspian]

Another Knock

Niles searched the wreckage of the temple: the holy chalice of Chauntea, gone. His stash of Mrs. Tuttersnaps Tasty Trail Mix, eaten. The treasury, raided. He freshly baked honey-butter cornbread, stolen. His flower bed, trampled.

"What a mess!" he said to himself, releasing a long sigh. "Not three days on the job and this has come upon me. That ain't right!"

The only good news was that the three prized boars of the city were untouched. With the boars keeping him company, Niles went about cleaning up the study in the rear of the temple to the best of his ability.

Stacking papers and turning furniture upright, he found himself speaking to the animals. "I bet it'd be nice bein' the three Triboar Boars, ain't it? Bein' all fuzzy-like and warm. Someone feedin' you everyday. Not havin' to worry about a thing except---"

Suddenly, another knock came on the temple door. The boars stood up quickly. Niles' eyes went wide.

"Oh damnation!" he exclaimed to himself. "For the love of all that's good, please, not again!"

[Caspian]

An Unexpected Guest

Niles Nilton moved quickly, grabbing a candlestick from the altar. Failing in his attempt to sneak up quietly, his large, square feet pitter-pattered loudly on the stone floor. Niles put his back to the wall beside the door, gripping the candlestick tightly as his breath quickened. Moments passed.

Another knock. A slow voice spoke. "Hey in there! Is-a anyone home?"

"No one's here!" Niles responded hastily. "I mean---Damnation!" He inhaled and exhaled. "I have a thick mace here! And three boars that'll rip you to pieces!"

Small laughter came from the other side of the door. "Oh-a, do ya now? I'm not a-certain you'll be needin' either of those in regard to me, priest."

Niles was sweating. "Why? You another Banite? Or some evil mage goin' to cast a right-crazy spell on me!"

"No friend," the slow voice said, laughing a little. "I was just-a passin' by when I saw your garden all-a trampled, so I thought I'd stop in and see if everything is okay."

"Sure you are!" he said disbelievingly. Niles then asked cautiously, "Right, then? What's your name?"

"Well, I be-a farmer O'Brien, from just an hour north. Open the door, son. It will be alright now. Promise"

Niles moved slowly, coming off the wall. He fingers wrapping again around his candlestick. He opened the door just a crack. Peering quickly outside, he saw no one. Niles whimpered as he scanned right and left, seeing only field and sky.

The slow voice spoke again. "Down a-here, brother."

Niles looked down to see an older halfling dressed in cotton overalls.

[Caspian]

Still Shakey

Niles jumped back a little, holding up the candlestick instictively. He looked down to farmer O'Brien. "Ah! Whatchu doin' down there!"

Farmer O'Brien placed his thumbs in his overalls. "Well, that's-a fittin' question for a hin, isn't it, brother?" He laughed. "I-a fear we don' get much taller than this." He looked to Brother Niles holding his candlestick. "Is that your-a mace, laddy?"

Niles looked to his candlestick and back down to farmer O'Brien. "Well, I---"

"I thought so," the halfling said, turning his attention to the wreckage of the temple. "Holy Chauntea Mother of Harvest! What-a happened here?"

[Caspian]

A Suggestion

Farmer O'Brien helped Niles order and clean the temple sanctuary. He listened patiently as Niles finished the story of what happened "...and then I woke up, the place was all a right-crazy mess, and our enchanted chalice was stolen!" He finished the tale with an exhausted sigh.

Farmer O'Brien ran his fingers through his thin, grey hair. "Well-a, laddy, that's a tough spot ta be, for certain. And it doesn't look-a good losin' your temple relic your first-a week on the job. What do ya plan ta do now?"

Niles turned a pew right-side up. "Well now, I'm not sure, farmer O'Brien." He paused. "You have any right-fine ideas?"

The hin placed some holy books back in their respective places. "Hmm. I'm no priest, but doesn't a fella like you report to anyone? Isn't there a druid grove of Chauntea not too far in the Neverwinter Wood?"

Niles Nilton sat down in a temple pew, his hands on his head, looking to the floor. "My, oh my, friend! I was afraid you were goin' to mention that!"

Farmer O'Brien tilted his head, looking curiously at Niles. "Oh really now? What's wrong with going to the druid grove?"

"Well," Niles began, looking up to the older halfling, "it's a bit of a story."

"I'm a-listenin', laddy..."

[Caspian]

A Tale Over Fresh Cornbread

Brother Niles Nilton and Farmer O'Brien had moved into the small, temple kitchen, which was largely untouched by the Banite thugs (Niles attributed this to their admiration of his cooking). Pulling a fresh batch of cornbread out of the oven, he placed it on the counter top and layered it with fresh butter and honey. A warm, sweet scent lingered in the air.

"So that's that," Niles continued. "My two brothers are gardeners, my father is a gardener, my grandfather was a gardener, all the way back as far as the Nilton's can right-remember! We've all served and worshipped Chauntea all our lives. With her bringin' rain, blessin' crops and bein' quite nice to plant life, it's right-fittin' for our kin."

The older hin listened as Niles set the table and continued his story, "Well, one day my father, two brothers and I were asked to set and decorate an ancient grave of recently deceased council member of Neverwinter. It was a right-difficult flower arrangement. The tomb was quite a bit outside town, through some woods and all. Although we left early, we didn't get out to the graveyard 'til 'round noon or so. All four of us worked right-hard until twilight came, and still we weren't finished."

Niles poured some hot tea and cut the pieces of cornbread, placing them carefully in a wicker basket layered with a red and gold cloth. "Then, not long after sunset, the graveyard got all dark-like, with long shadows and a breeze so chilly it made the hair stand on up the back of our necks here!" His voice lowered, "And then I heard a noise, all low and earthy, like a crazed garden mole workin' through the ground and wonderin' which way was up! So I turned around, looking over the other graves with a summer lily in one hand and my hand shovel in another, and that's when I saw it!"

Farmer O'Brien helped move the cornbread to the table as Niles set out sugar and milk for the tea, "Saw what now, laddy?"

Niles finally sat down to the table, and the halfling did the same. His voice went high and soft. "A hand! All dead and crooked like this here!" Niles bent and twisted his hand to look deformed. "It was comin' right up outta the ground!"

[Caspian]

A Unique Discovery

Farmer O'Brien chewed eagerly on his fresh cornbread, listening intently.

Niles continued, "So now that hand kept comin' up and up, like a tulip after warm spring rains, but all dead-like, growin' taller and taller!" He wimpered a little. "So I turned to my family who were right-scared stiff! They were all not movin' a muscle, lookin' like a deer caught in a light spell!"

The halfing sat at the edge of his chair. Niles went on, "By the time I turned around it was right-half up outta the ground! I was frozen too! Couldn't hardly move at all! So there we all were, four of us paralyzed and scared outta our wits! Man, that thing gave me the heebee-jeebees!"

Niles took a bite of his cornbread, "MmmMMM! That's right-fine with that honey right like that!" He wiped his mouth, swallowed and continued, "Just a few seconds later now, that zombie-like thing was fully out of its grave, standin' up all crazy bent-like and smellin' to high heaven! Woo-eee! And then you know what it did?"

Farmer O'Brien shook his head. Niles drew in a little closer. "That smelly ol' undead started comin' toward us, and it stepped on one of my petunias!"

O'Brien was a bit taken back by the change in voice. "What did-a ya do, then, laddy?" the older hin asked.

"Well, something like a white-hot-crazy-holy-fire rage started wellin' up in my chest! And before I knew it, I grabbed my necklace of Chauntea, jumped right up on my two feet here and shouted, 'Oh, hells! No you didn't just step on my petunias!'

"And that there zombie stopped dead in its tracks."

[Caspian]

Fight or Flight?

Farmer O'Brien sipped his tea and took another bite of Niles' honey-butter cornbread. "So, ya held an undead? That's mighty impressive. Did ya finish it off, then?"

Niles looked off to the side and back to the older halfling. "You crazy? We grabbed what we could in a right-quick hurry and ran like twelve-year old girls back to our pack mules!"

"Did ya now?"

"Yes indeed! We ran as fast as we could as long as we could without a split-second of lookin' back! We were right out of breath once we hit the main road goin' back to Neverwinter. Then my pa turns to me and says, 'Niles, what'd you do back there, son?' And I told him I didn't know. 'Well,' he said, 'I've seen some right-crazy things in my day, but I've never seen a Nilton stop a walkin' dead man after crushin' some petunias! Now that's just wild! You just may have a gift, there, boy.'"

Farmer O'Brien listened on, chewing contently on his cornbread.

Niles keep talking. "'Gift?' I said, 'What do you mean?' 'Well,' my pa said, 'I've heard of priests bein' able to do those kinda things. Maybe you should head out to the Druid Grove of Chauntea, and see what they have to say. How about you go take a look see at the grove once we get back and cleaned up?' And I've always been right-fine at obeyin' my pa now, so I agreed."

Niles finished off his cornbread. "'Alright, pa, when we get back I'll go and take a look-see!'"

[Caspian]

Travelin' to the Grove

Niles and Farmer O'Brien sat at the table for some time, letting their food settle.

"Well, a few days after I got back, I startin' packin' my bags for a short trip to the Grove of Chauntea! My family and I had been goin' there for years now. But it'd had been some time since I'd seen the shrine, though. At least a year now, I believe. Too much gardenin' to be done, I suppose. It's a right nice walk, with all sorts of thistles and tulips linin' the side of the path and all."

Farmer O'Brien spoke up, "Did-a ya finish the work at the grave, laddy?"

Niles attempted to snap. "Right! My pa and brothers told the council member's family 'bout what happened, and they got them an armed escort just in case. They made sure to work there only when it was daytime, though. So they didn't have any problem finishin' up the gardenin'."

"I see," O'Brien said.

Niles went on, "Well, the trip there was right-nice and sunny! But when I approached the grove, somethin' didn't seem right."

"No?"

"Nope," said Niles. "Somethin' right here in my gut said, 'Niles, somethin' doesn't seem right,' like I was bein' spied on or somethin'! And before I knew it, three young men in hide armor stepped out from the woods with clubs and spears! They were all blendin' in with the forest so much that I could barely make out their faces. One of them patted his club on his hand, looked right at me and said flatly, 'State your business, quickly, before we state ours!'

"Then the other two raised their spears at me!"