More Pensive and Farron; At the Forge
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
Pensive catches Garyth alone and says to him, "Your friend Farron is in danger. I can feel Kor Garesh's influence within him, driving him to despair. I'm. . . not sure how to approach him directly about this. I thought that since you are his friend, you might be able to help him better than I would be able to."
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
Camaraderie. Farron looks up from his spellbook, still not meeting the Elf's eyes. He looks around the room at his companions. He remembers the struggles the party had even to be civil to one another in the beginning. Who of these men would call him "friend"? Sa'id, of course. Thank Fate for Sa'id. But who else? Were it not for the fact that they were all thrown together in the same cauldron, who else here would have looked twice at him? Rennik? He lived for his tribe and family. Would he be here at all if his hatred of Kor Garesh weren't personal? Rennik had always acted like the rest the party was a burden, just slowing him down in the jungle. Mission? Well, he did have a duty to his son. He could hardly be expected to stick around. And it was best that the baby be as far from Kor Garesh as possible. But weren't we all just tools to Mission? What camaraderie was there between him and any of the party he left behind? Garyth? He was from Overlook. Overlook that teased Farron as a boy and thought him strange. Overlook that Farron could hardly wait to leave when he was younger. Garyth was a good man, but Farron didn't feel anything of the camaraderie or even respect that he was showing now to even the lowest of his fellow soldiers.
"War makes strange bedfellows, that's for sure," he says quietly. "But is a common enemy enough to make lasting ties?" He lowers his voice so only the Elf will hear. "Who of this group would think twice of the others if we weren't fighting for our lives? Who would not forsake the lot of us for the promise to go back to the way things were?"
Farron pauses at the implication of his own question. Would HE forsake the lot for such a promise? He thought of what he would regain - a lonely apartment, an aunt and uncle he rarely saw? He had a good job and money to spare, but what was that worth, really? What would be lost from the world if the wraiths had done their job just a little bit better?
He watched as Garyth left with the Halfling newcomer. He was bound to be heading off to give a tongue lashing to his guards. Farron almost envied them.
He looks the Elf in the eyes for the first time. "What common vision do we share that doesn't end at the mountain, one way or another?"
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
(ooc - that's cool. You wrote this before I replied to your last, but I wrote that before I read this. Seems like we're both thinking "this looks like a job for Garyth." ;-)
From: Mike
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
OOC: Karl, the last thing Garyth said about Farron was when he was introducing the group to Bartok, and he specifically called Farron his friend. I just wanted to make sure that everyone got that message, since no one replied to it. I also sent one out yesterday around 11 AM PST. Did everyone get that one?
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
"I am Asha Eradu-- I can feel emotions from other people sometimes."
I'll have to kill him.
The thought is complete before Sa'id can squelch it, crush it, stuff it back into that dark place in his subconscious mind where he has hidden such things. Like his dreams... one comes rushing back to him now, a dream of fire and death. The Devourer's undead turning to him for guidance in the absence of their master. He could wreak bloody vengeance on Elise... or maybe...
He shakes his head to clear it. These thoughts and dreams were not his, they were born of the Devourer's influence.
Or were they? Sa'id was working to seal the horror away, remove its influence from the world. It had nothing to gain by giving him ideas. But its defeat would leave a void at the head of the undead army.
Stop. Stop this. The Elf might sense it, he might suspect... What am I thinking? Farron looks at him, maybe for guidance, maybe for support... had he been talking? Sa'id murmurs a prayer to Pelor under his breath, and makes a small gesture of warding with one hand. It doesn't matter what my motives might be, or whether I myself know what they are. All that matters is the task.
He stands up abruptly. "Excuse me, I need to study. To clear my head." Sa'id walks from the main room to the smaller one where he'd slept. He sits cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the room and closes his eyes.
From: Ty
Subject: Waiting for the Sunmaster; At the forge
Gully leads Rennik to the forge in a small shed outside the trading post. He lights a fire, and slowly begins feeding charcoal into it. When it is burning well, he says to Rennik, "Begin pumping the bellows." The bellows handle is high for him, but his shoulders and back are well muscled from years of axe practice. He hooks a toe under the bottom of the bellow, and begins pulling the upper handle down. Within moments, the forge fire has grown so intense that the small rooms becomes unbearably hot. Gully throws open the doors and windows, but the temperature only drops a little. Soon, both men are stripped down to just their pants and the heavy leather aprons.
Gully takes the broken axe head from Rennik respectfully. Clearly, he has handled the weapons of the Halfling tribes before, and knows that they carry great spiritual value to the tribal hunters. Over the roar of the forge, Rennik can barely here Gully's prayer. "Mielikki, make my fire grow hot, give my arm strength, grant my hands skill." Rennik gives the big trader a long look. Had he been out here in the wilds so long that he had gone native? Or was he praying for the benefit of Rennik's feelings?
In time though, all of that is forgotten, as the exhausting work of pulling the bellows goes on and on. First, Gully takes a long flat piece of iron and heats it red hot. Then he uses the anvils cutting chisel and his hammer to cut a small end off of it. Then comes the long and painstaking work of attaching the new piece of metal to the jagged end where Elise's blade cut through. It takes all morning, but by early afternoon, Gully plunges the newly refitted head into a barrel of water to temper it. When he pulls it out, a smile spreads across his soot covered face. He hands the axe head to Rennik. "It's a good bit of work, if I do say so myself. It'll hold good as new. I can probably find a stout bit of oak for the haft. Let me look around for one. I'd bet she'll be ready to swing by the morrow."
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
This is the first email from you I've seen today.
I did get the attached email below earlier, but quite frankly I had forgotten it. You can play it that Farron didn't hear, or perhaps didn't recognize it as anything more than common pleasantry.
In my last turn, I tried to convey that Farron doesn't hold any ill feelings toward Garyth. If anything, he's just feeling bad about the whole situation right now and is looking negatively at everything.
I hope I'm not playing Farron as too dark or too loose a cannon. Should I lighten up or just see what you guys can do with him?
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
The desire to speak with these men is snuffed out of
Pensive-- Farron was obviously being corrupted by the Shadow, and the other. . . was odd. He smelled like cold metal.
Pensive excuses himself from Farron. "I will think on what you told me of Kor Garesh. Thank you, Farron."
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Questions and Answers
OOC: D'oh! Forgot to respond to this. .
"What common vision do we share that doesn't end at the mountain, one way or another?"
Pensive answers, "Who can say what may have happened if the Path had turned to the left instead of the right? The Path is not straight, nor is it soft. . . We walk where it leads us. And we find companions on the Path that can lift us, or who we can help lift. That is what is important."