Melani Takes a Ride; Kasen and Sa'id On the Road; Matt's Back: Rennik's Dream
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
"There used to be a small group of elves on this island, in the forest. They were tracking and hunting something in the forest and jungle, though no one can say for sure what. They left years ago."
Rennik, who has been listening from a few feet away, says, "I knew those men. They took me with them, trained me. They are the ones that taught me to hunt the wereboar." He looks at Pensive. "The Kalama is right. They left. And they were the Sylvan folk. Not your people."
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
Robert speaks first, and Garyth realizes he was holding his breath until one of his men replied. "I'd go. We should have all died when we faced that half orc brute. I've never seen anything like him in my life. I stood on that hill with my crossbow, and realized that all my friends were going to die in front of me, and I could do nothing about it. It was the worst thing I've ever felt.
"But, Captain, then you threw yourself in front of the brute and faced him down, standing up to the worst beating I've ever seen a man take. And all so your men could live. And they all did, every one. And maybe that's the best thing I've ever felt."
Robert pauses for a minute while the rest of the Falcons nod, and a few quiet words of agreement are spoken. Then he says, "If the demon is going to take your soul, sir, he'll go through me to do it."
Corporal Vincy nods, but turns to face Osred. "What about you, sergeant? I've been with you a while. I'd like to know what you think our duty here is?"
From: Ty
Subject: Melani takes a ride
Melani wakes from a dream in which her head is being repeatedly stabbed with a sharp stick, to a waking world were it feels like her head is being repeatedly stabbed with a sharp stick. She opens her eyes, and sees that it is daytime, though a dark gray daytime with the heavy cloud cover. She is flung over the back of the wereboar. She can see his legs below her. Her hands are tied uncomfortably behind her back, though she thinks that if she had time, she could undo the knots (escape artist: success). Her feet are also tied together, but once her hands were free, that would be no problem.
But all her weapons are gone, and her armor. Even the metal band she wears on her arm is gone. The Murrkat had stripped her to the skin. She feels a brief moment of panic, but realizes there is no pain or soreness. They hadn't violated her. At least she would not be required to geld each and every one of them before escaping. She looks around as much as she can from her position on the wereboars shoulder. She counts...six, maybe seven Murrkat traveling with the boar. One of them has a bundle on his back. Her gear? Maybe.
Her head and back ache horribly. The Murrkat must have kept beating her long after she was unconscious. The pain in her head flares and she passes out several times during her ride on the boar's back. Finally, after several hours, she is flung to the ground and the boar and the Murrkat flop to the ground and open their food pouches. It looks like they are stopping for lunch.
Melani rolls to her side to get a look around. Ten or so feet away is a small river. The Murrkat are filling their bottles in it. All around are the trees of the forest, and many small shrubs. They have not reached the jungle yet. She knows this place. The river is the same one that passes through Kalama lands to the south. With the darkness in the air, and under the cover of trees, she knows that she could probably vanish with the smallest of head starts. But there is not way she could get to her gear if she tried to escape now. On the other hand, by tonight they will be in the jungle, where her chances of surviving even a successful escape go down dramatically.
From: Ty
Subject: The wizards
Need a check in from the wizards and Dan.
Karl will wake by early evening of this day. Sa'id believes that they are still a day or more from Gully's.
Going to do anything before stopping for the night?
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
I have to go prepare for an internet auction our company is involved in so will have something this afternoon.
Just a quick question, does the river flow towards her people? I mean are they down stream from where she is, so that she could use the current to take her there? She has no levels in swim, but has a good CON bonus and no armor or weapons to give her minuses on her swim checks.
She is not worried about most of her gear, except the bow and the armband. She can always find new armor and daggers.
Mark
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
Yes. Everything flows away from the mountain, and toward the sea. The current is toward the Kalama lands. But the river is just a big stream. If you tried to float down it, you would probably have a Isildur moment (you know, floating along filled with arrows).
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
So I can not do a Butch Cassiday and ride the raging river away from persuers? :)
Does it look like they are going to be taking a long break or just a few minutes? I mean are they making the motions of setting up for a while?
Mark
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
"The Kalama is right. They left. And they were the Sylvan folk. Not your people."
Pensive feels a flare of anger. What did Rennick know of his people? Pensive himself didn't know who his people were! Sylvan, or High, or Low, or . . . Blood and Stone!
The anger passes in a breath, and Pensive nods at Rennick with a cautious half-smile. He sees Garyth has gathered the Falcons around him, feels a twinge of pleasure and guilt and fear from that direction. He clears his throat. "Thank you," he says to the halflings. "And thank you again, if you are able to give. . . Reth'Tenn Melani our message."
He will go join Garyth.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
They only opened their food pouches and filled a few water bottles.
You don't KNOW how long, but Melani would guess it's a short stop.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
[You know, Pensive looks nothing like a Sylvan elf to Rennik. :)]
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
I mean that they are not making a cooking fire and breaking out the bed rolls and tents.
The scent ability of the boar worries me. They run faster then me and are armed.
Is anyone at all paying attention to me? Do they know she is awake?
Mark
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
Melani is being totally ignored.
It's sort of insulting.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
What does a Sylvan elf look like? Maybe Pensive will talk with Rennick about his elven friends later when he's not so angry. . .
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss -- Mage style
OOC: I feel like I should do some sort of long and exhaustive RP session with Doake, just to prolong Karl's agony.
IC:
It felt almost as if the sun was shining, even if it was nowhere to be seen. Kasen had risen this morning with his spirits soaring and here, hours later; he could still feel the lingering effects of dawn's good mood. And so, while still focused on the road and straining for some sign of danger, he no longer felt like an attack was mere seconds away. He is not relaxed enough, however, to engage Sa'id in conversation.
What was it the mage had said? Sayeed? Isn't that what Kasen had been saying all along? Something reasonably close to it anyway. Perhaps not, he may have misheard Elise while she was with Lord -- Kasen quickly buries the thought, but not before the memory begins to soil his high spirits.
They ride on in silence for another hour, perhaps two. Finally Kasen sighs inwardly, remembering yesterday's long, silent ride. The gulf between he and this wizard was steadily increasing, and whatever Kasen's thoughts about Sa'id may be, he needed him too much to be hated by him.
"So what is this Gully's, anyway?" He says, fixing on a line of conversation that seemed reasonable, given the circumstances. "Someone powerful enough to keep the demon at bay or weak enough to escape notice? Or do we expect the army to have swept over it already, and so we'll escape notice that way?"
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani takes a ride
As the boar and the halflings move along, Melani, in between bouts of unconsciousness, tries to get a good look at the halfling that she thinks has her gear. There is no way that she will be able to get it in this crowd, but there is always latter.
When the boar throws her to the ground she notices that the ropes binding her are not tied all that tight. Good, she would be able to get her hands free and then her feet. The cover is good and the light is in her favor. She could probably get away. The problem would be staying away.
The stream. She recognized that. That goes all the way home. If she could get into the water it would cover her scent. The wereboar is her biggest problem. She had no way of even hurting it.
Looking for a time when all her foes are paying no attention to her, she slips off the bindings on her hands and, using her body to shield what she is doing from the halflings, frees her legs.
She then moves as quietly as possible, trying to get some cover over her as soon as possible. She is going to move away from the party, towards her people. After about 100 feet, if she can manage it, she will head towards the stream and use it to mask her scent as much as possible. She will always move towards her peoples land, hoping to find some scouts.
Mark
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss -- Mage style
"So what is this Gully's, anyway? Someone powerful enough to keep the demon at bay or weak enough to escape notice? Or do we expect the army to have swept over it already, and so we'll escape notice that way?"
Sa'id blinks. He has to parse Kasen's words retroactively to make any sense of them. Where had his mind been? He can't even remember. Hours and hours of riding... it was easy to slip into a trance-like state. "Gully's is... well, it's an inn and trading post, I suppose," he replies. "The army would ignore it; there's only Gully and his wolf. Then again, the last time we were there..." Sa'id swallows, hard. He can't really gloss this part over. "Well, the last time we were there, so was another of the demon's followers. You'll see the, ah, the damage..."
From: Matt
Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss
[OOC: Hey all. I'm back from Canada, and it's summer break, so I'm going to take a moment to backtrack a little bit and fill in for Rennik, if ya don't mind.]
Night in the forests was unforgiving. It did not coddle the young or sustain the weak. It did not offer sympathy or warmth, except in the fatal embrace of the jaguar or the jaws of the great lizards. The halfling tribes had been hardened over the centuries, had learned to survive the nights in the wild - had even made it the test of an adult.
Leading the scared and tired humans into the forest, Rennik couldn't help but think of the soft and gold addled halflings of the ancient city, running in terror from what they had released, only to find their deaths in the waiting claws and fangs of the jungle. Those that had survived surely had great cunning and will, the forebears of the great tribes. They were leaders and shepherds, fleeing a great evil and struggling against the impartial and hungry jungle to lead their people to safety.
He thought of Garyth, leading his people into the forest and gained a new measure of respect for the man. He would have been a survivor during those ancient nights, living to establish a small encampment and teach his people to learn through blind, stupid errors and gain strength from their weakness.
Rennik steeled himself against the night, crouching on his haunches on watch some ways away from the encamped villagers. This time, he thought. This time we cannot flee the evil, but we must face it. It is not imprisoned and tainting the city, but loose upon the world.
He slept, his eyes just slipping below the horizon of consciousness, still alert to his surroundings... and he dreamt.
He was naked and alone in the deep jungle, the sounds of every predator he had ever encountered filtering through the thick leaves. He was cautious, but not afraid. It was said Mielikki smiled on the babe in the woods, unprotected and alone - allowing its innocence to be its shield and armor.
Rennik crouched down, knowing he was far from innocent, and his mind raced, forming survival plans and calculating his chances. Staring at the darkest place in the bush, he suddenly saw a faint green glow and cocked his head. The leaves pulled away gently, as if blown by a summer wind, and a small elven girl stepped out, dressed from head to toe in leaves, leather and the bark of trees. Two small antlers sprouted from a crown of starlight and dewdrops, and her hands shimmered in gloves of spider's silk.
Rennik knelt on one knee before her, unashamed of his nakedness, petitioning for the grace of the nymph-like vision. She placed a hand softly on his head, then motioned with the other back towards the dense undergrowth.. where Rennik heard footsteps....
..and awoke with a start, Tichenor sunnely perking up at his side. The Kamala hunters reveal themselves and Rennik stands. He clasps arms with their leader, and nods his head to the others.
"The Belneth saw you fleeing from darkness. He has sent us to lead you to our camp. It is a strange time when the stone builders and the forest folk must take up arms together, but such were the words of the holy man. Meilikki must be obeyed."
And honored, thought Rennik to himself, with a silent prayer.
***
The hunters were well trained and accustomed to the forest, but they were not shepherds of men. Moving the herd was not their strength, but they did admirably at the task. Rennik watched as Bragga spoke with the leader in halting common, when he overheard the elven monk speaking with the transplanted mainlander, Telkin.
"I. . . I am looking for elves. Do you know of any on the island?"
Not for years, Rennik thought to himself sadly. Elbereth had taken his band of hunters back to the mainland, though they would have been a great help in these dark times. A small part of him wished for a chastising from his mentor about being all but declawed by Elise in the woods, and being forced to weild a hacked down halberd.
Telkin mentions the group, and Rennik chimes in.
"I knew those elves. They took me with them, trained me. They are the ones that taught me to hunt the wereboar." He looks at Pensive, sizing him up against Elbereth and the others, and finds him somewhat lacking. The monk is nothing like the elves he hunted and sparred with... though, there was another sort of fire in his eye that Rennik couldn't quite understand. It was the same intensity that flashed in Missions eyes, behind the smiles and the jokes.
"The Kalama is right. They left. And they were the Sylvan folk. Not your people."
Elbereth had spoken of other types of elves, who made their homes away from the glades of the forests. Surely Pensive came from this stock.
The elf nods at him with a strange smile, and Rennik simply furrows his brow. No, nothing like his mentor. Nothing at all.
***
Moving closer to Garyth, Rennik only overhears one of his men speaking proudly.
...and maybe that's the best thing I've ever felt. If the demon is going to take your soul, sir, he'll go through me to do it."
Many of the men nod and whisper aggreement until another of them speaks.
"What about you, sergeant? I've been with you a while. I'd like to know what you think our duty here is?"
Duty? Rennik was only vaguely familiar with the word... something about your job description, or what was expected of you. Humans were consumed with duty, the elves had told him. They assigned jobs and roles, and then those roles became their identity.. they became slaves to their tasks, it seemed.
Strange folk, humans.
Curious about the nature of the discussion, Rennik holds his tongue, and waits for the sergeant to respond. He held great respect for the big man, and he wondered just how this concept of duty had molded him.