Catching Up With the Townspeople; Farron Stabilizes
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
Garyth is no longer under fire from the halflings.
Where were the little savages retreating to? Were they even retreating at all? Pensive snaps the stonesash into a loop and holds it loosely in one hand.
"We should ride back the way we came, Garyth," Pensive says. "There's no telling what traps the halflings may have lain for us-- but we know that at least, that way is clear. Clear of traps, anyway." He nods toward the direction the halfling arrows had been coming from.
OOC: No matter what Garyth decides, Pensive will follow.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
Garyth nods. "Agreed," he says.
OOC: He'll still be moving at the best possible speed on the way back.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
Osred nods. "The elf's right, captain--we should head back. We've got a responsibility back there, people we've got to see to safety, best we can. God knows what hell the witch has been putting them through while we've been out here chasing halflings" (OOC: I'm right, aren't I, in thinking that the party is completely unaware of the witch's death?)
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
OOC: You are correct. But I'm not sure if one of us read Scott's post wrong. (Or peradventure I'm reading yours wrong.) Garyth already ordered a retreat, so I think Pensive was just advising on the route, not telling him that they need to get back to the camp.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
Yes.
From: Ty
Subject: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
"Hold on," Sa'id whispers. "Just hold on," he says, then pounds his friend's chest yet again, hoping against hope to shock his heart back into a rhythm of life. [Heal attempt 6 vs DC 15, fail; Farron at -8]
But his efforts produce nothing but a long slow exhale from the fallen wizard. When he puts his head to Farron's chest, he can no longer hear even the whispery beat be previously detected. His friend is dying. Dying in his arms. And he is helpless to stop it.
From behind him, Kasen watches grimly. Another murder to add to Elise's tally sheet.
From: Ty
Subject: The Exodus; Rennik leads the way
Rennik darts across the nearly black landscape, only the faint light of Bragga's torch illuminating his path. There was no time to pick the easiest route. Only to pick one that would get the largest number of people into the woods in the shortest time. Rennik stops to let Bragga catch up, and the old guardsman stands next to him waving his torch back and forth and yelling, "To me, Overlook! To me!"
The town follows in a ragged knot. From the dark are cries of pain and panic, but very few of the townsfolk thought to light torches or lanterns before fleeing, and it is impossible to see what's happening in the inky black.
Rennik gives them only a moment, then turns back to lead the way, yelling for Bragga not to lose sight of him.
From: Ty
Subject: Black Magic 6
Garyth leaps onto Kenneth's horse, and turns to lead his men back to the fleeing town. One short. We go back without one man, he thinks. A man who was under my care. He remembers how Kenneth changed after the big half orc nearly killed him. How he had grown quiet, and withdrawn, asking not to be called by his nickname any more. His brush with death had changed him in some way. And now, before he had time to figure it out, death had come back and ended him. Garyth feels eyes on him, and looks up to see Pensive staring. When the elf has caught his eye, he turns to look in the direction of the mountain. The message is clear. The demon killed Kenneth. Not Garyth. The demon. One more soul on his ledger. Garyth represses a shudder. It's creepy how the elf always seems to know what everyone else is thinking.
Garyth spurs his mount over to Kenneth's body, then jumps down to throw the fallen Falcon over the back of his horse. "Back to our people, men. Ride fast."
After a few minutes of riding, the group reaches the camp. Some fires still smolder, casting a dim reddish light. Around them are small dark shapes. Bodies. More than Garyth had expected. Dozens, maybe more. He can hear the rest of the people not much further ahead. He can hear yells and the occasional scream or cry. This attack had hurt them. It had hurt them badly, and now the town was in a panic. Some would follow Bragga and Rennik, but some would be lost in the dark. And there was no way to round them up. They had to keep moving.
And maybe that was the point. Garyth wondered how many of his friends and family would be going to the mountain tomorrow.
A few minutes of riding catch him up with Rennik and Bragga.
[where to from here?]
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
His efforts wasted, Sa'id slumps back on his heels, still kneeling, his hand limply at his sides. He stares at the cold corpse in front of him that once was his friend. Suddenly he is exhausted. The weight of the past weeks comes crashing down on him and he sobs, too tired to sob, and to desperate even to curse the god that seemed so fickle in his blessings. Why me and not him, he thinks to himself.
"Why?" he asks aloud. "Why not Farron? He has done what *I* have done. . . why. . ." He slumps forward in despair, his head on his dead friend's chest. "Why?" he sobs meekly.
--------------------
On his dream ship, Farron searches for the captain, or indeed any of the crew. They must be told he didn't belong here. He didn't sign up for this voyage. They have to turn back. They have to take him back home. Standing on the forecastle, he looks back across the main deck, up the companionway toward the wheel and still not a soul in site.
"Ahoy!" he calls. "Hello! Is anyone here?" panic rising in his voice. He runs from the bow toward the stern and up the companionway. He reaches the unmanned wheel, amazed to see it turning back and forth, keeping the ship in line with . . . what? Where? He looks ahead and sees a bright light directly in the path of the ship. It is so bright he cannot look at it head on, but he can see that the ship is rapidly moving toward it, despite the slackened sails.
"I am not supposed to BE HERE!" he screams to the air. He grabs the wheel but it continues its rhythmic rocking keeping the ship in line with the light, oblivious to his pulling and pushing. Panic swelling in him he looks for a lifeboat. There is none. As the light grows brighter truth begins to dawn. . . am I. . . I'm not. . . I can't be . . .
"NO!" he screams, running to the stern of the ship. "I SHOULD NOT BE HERE!"
He takes one last glance toward the blinding light before diving into the water below. "I'M NOT FINISHED YET" he screams at he braces for the cold of the plunge.
(Fate Point to stabilize.)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
[Karl, do you read sakeriver still? People had flattering things to say about your last Sa'id writeup.]
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
Farron leaps off the stern of the ship, and hits the cold water. It freezes him to the bones, and he sinks like a rock. His last thoughts are of cold and black?
****
Sa'id sits crying, his hands hang helplessly by his sides. On his knees, Farron lies absolutely motionless. Behind him, Kasen clears his throat. "We should move on. The bitch knows where we are, and she may know that her spirits failed to kill us. We are in no shape to fight right now. We can," he pauses uncomfortably, "we can take him. To bury later. If you wish."
Sa'id turns his head slowly to look at the knight. Kasen shifts backward in his saddle involuntarily, shocked by the black expression on the wizard's face. His eyes flash in the dark, and something like a dim fire flickers around his hands. "If you speak again, I will ki-" He stops suddenly.
On his knees, Farron sucks in a huge coughing breath. He does not wake, but his heart beats and his breath is steady. In minutes, his flesh begins to warm.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: Black Magic 6
When they reach the camp, the sight of the bodies hits Garyth like a blow. He pulls up short, his horse dancing about nervously. Here he sees a young girl face down in the dirt, her chest pinned to the ground by one of the halflings' arrows. She's still clutching the doll she must have been trying to save. Over there, the broken body of a man mauled by the tentacles lies in a heap, limbs sticking out in all sorts of wrong directions. A sick feeling comes over Garyth; he retches once, just managing to keep it together. He grits his teeth, trying to suppress the impotent rage he feels building in him, and spurs his horse on.
It's not long before they catch up to Bragga and Rennik. He falls in beside them and reports, addressing them both. "The archers have been dispersed but I lost a man doing it, and they may be back." His jaw quirks a bit. Steady. It was the demon that did this. The demon. Don't make Kenneth's sacrifice less--he chose this life, he knew what it meant. Calm. Calm. "We have no choice but to keep moving."
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 5
Ah. I'm the one who was reading wrong, I'm afraid. In any case, Osred's all for retreating at this point.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Black Magic 6
Garyth's guilt lays in Pensive's mouth like spiderwebs-- he yawns broadly to get the taste of it out, but gets a lungful of pain and fear from the camp instead. He winces.
There are no more attacks from the halfling's arrows.
The camp is empty of life-- some small fires burn in the underbrush where embers have been knocked free of their firepits. Dead bodies are scattered in the dim glow-- Pensive sees the chubby boy that had been so eager to see Yancy beat up Bastorien. The one who had waved to him. Pensive dismounts. There are no arrow wounds on the boy's body. No-- he'd been trampled to death in the crowd's rush to escape.
Escape. . . escape to where? Pensive reaches to close the boy's eyelids. Where were your killers escaping to? Some would have fled with Captain Bragga-- many more would have run off to get lost in the night.
Pensive's heart quickens a moment. What was the purpose of this attack? It was certainly not to destroy the whole town-- there would have been infantry to deal with if that were the case. He had been wrong. He had assumed that there WOULD be a force of undead that would attack after the intial vollies by the archers. He had expected to find zombies shambling around in the dark.
But there had only been the archers and the witch. And the archers had been beaten back. . . or retreated.
Or gone looking for other prey.
Sand. He had been so completely, utterly wrong. This hadn't been an attack at all. It was a raid. He'd seen something like it with the low elves-- one group would lead their sheep to water, and another would try to scatter them and steal the stragglers.
The halflings were after the stragglers. The rightness of the thought thuds into his heart with such finality, Pensive forgets to breathe. But why? What good would they do? More zombies? Was Kor Garesh so starved for an army that he'd pick up women and children to fight for him?
No. Pensive remembers Verul Benardi's words, ". . . you will all sink forever in the scarlet light of my maw."
He shudders. They should have stayed with the camp. They should have kept the town together.
His own guilt tastes no better than Garyth's. He leaves the boy and the rest of the dead on the ground to see what can be done about protecting the living.
In Kasen's Head; Osred in the Camp
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
Kasen stirs uncomfortably on his saddle, feeling like something of a voyeur. He is torn between averting his eyes and letting Farron slip on with dignity and grabbing Sa'id by his collar and hauling him down the road. While touching, there was nothing they could do for Farron now but remember his name and wear it on their lips when they bring Elise her justice.
"There's time," he thinks, "A little time to collect himself. To collect ourselves." The sight of Sa'id over Farron's body threatens to take him back to his memories of Conal's corpse, memories he could do without visiting again tonight. To escape he nudges Stormcloud's flanks and they trot a few yards from the road, ostensibly searching for a sign of Farron's mount while giving both men some privacy in these last moments. Not that there was a hope of finding the animal without light; not that it matters now. He ticks off the passage of time and puts off leaving a while longer, pretending not to hear Sa'id's cries and steeling himself to deal with one dead man and one broken one.
"This is no time to be soft," He thinks, looking back at Sa'id. They were pissing time into the night. Farron was neither the first nor the last to fall; indeed there was nothing remarkable about his passing at all. Justice already demands Elise's head and there was always room for another name. Let yet another man relish in her death. "She can kill as many as she likes," he thinks, "It will make her fall the sweeter." But these tears, these tears would drown them if she found them while they wept. He had given Sa'id his peace, but now it was time to move on. Straightening in his saddle he moves back to the road.
Kasen clears his throat. "We should move on. The bitch knows where we are, and she may know that her spirits failed to kill us. We are in no shape to fight right now. We can," he pauses uncomfortably, "we can take him. To bury later. If you wish."
It is too late that he sees the blind anger and hatred in Sa'id's eyes. He had completely misread him and, caught utterly by surprise, he jerks backwards in shock without even reaching for his sword. "The man is broken", he realizes, "but not crumbled under the weight of despair, despair has simply weakened him enough for his hatred to explode." Kasen blinks, hands dumbly holding the reins, "I'm going to die," he realizes.
On his knees, Farron sucks in a huge coughing breath. He does not wake, but his heart beats and his breath is steady. In minutes, his flesh begins to warm. And, thankfully, he draws back Sa'id's focus.
Kasen tries to give an easy laugh, but it sounds timid even to his ears, "Your cries truly did wake the dead, Sa'id," he says, grateful that his voice does not break, "let us be off before they wake Lady Elise's ghosts as well."
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Black Magic 6
As they ride into what had been the town's camp, Osred's mouth flattens to a thin, grim line. His gaze flits back and forth across the carnage, finally settling on the small form he'd known he'd find--the blacksmith's boy, sprawled prone in the trampled grass. It was for this one, writhing in agony after being run over by his father's wagon, that Osred had sacrificed the ability to summon the wall of wind that could have deflected the halflings' arrows, could have prevented the route. Now the cleric couldn't even think that perhaps he'd been guided by some force he didn't understand, saving the boy for some higher purpose. He kicks the corpse once, savagely, and turns away. The enemy will not find him so foolishly soft again.
Scott's Fine With This, By The Way
SubjecT: Re: Black Magic 6
So, here's what I understand we're doing:
Continuing to march along in the night, toward the general direction of the Kalama camp. Is this right?
I'm fine with this, by the way.
And good turn, Noemon. REALLY good.
OOC Discussion: Mount Encumbrance
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
OOC: How much can my horse carry, Ty? Can I take Farron with me on top of my gear and all our armour? I assume Sa'id has no ranks in ride so it'd make sense for me to be the one hauling the guy. Unless his horse is still around and we just tie him to that ;)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
Storm can carry Farron without too much trouble. She is already over the limit for 4x running, and I don't think it drops her even farther.
Big Right On
Subject: Right
I'm back now, though I'm tempted to continue to let Karl play Sa'id anyway since Farron is out of commission.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Right
No thanks. ;-) I'm more interested to see where *you're* going with the whole conversion-to-Pelor thing. It was hard to write those scenes without committing the character one way or the other.
By the way, has *anything* happened in the last 2 or three days with the Overlook campaign? Your email is the *only* thing I've gotten in that time.
Karl
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Right
Well, we'll see. It's only been a couple of weeks. This sort of thing takes months to years for people to work through.
As far as I know there were no messages to the list between June 17th and today, so you didn't miss anything. :)
Raja
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Right
I have not seen anything in almost a week. We are waiting on Matt, I think.
Mark
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Right
I think I will do a turn without him pretty soon here.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Right
For those of you who may not read Hatrack or Sakeriver, we had our fourth child on Sunday morning.
Despite the fact that I will be on dial up and at home all week, I will endeavor to fulfill my RPG responsabilities.
Look for turns in the early, early morning, or in the late, late evening.
Commitment! It's not just for marriage, anymore. . .
:-D
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Right
Why did you think having FOUR kids was a good idea?
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Right
Congrats! Hope the mother is well.
Karl
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Right
3 square meals + 1 snack.
Duh.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Right
Right, right.
That makes sense.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Right
Congrats.
Mark
Who's On First?
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
Are we waiting for players to pass in turns here or Ty? I feel like we're at that awkward pause in a conversation and I'm not sure if it's my turn to pipe up or not.
Scattered to the Winds
Subject: SRD
Here's another nice online version of the 3.5 SRD.
This one comes with a nice dice roller, among other things.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
I think we are waiting on me.
I will just do the turn for Rennik for now.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
Dan, where are you leading the two wizards? Are you still planning to stop for the night somewhere? Or are you just going to ride straight through till morning?
From: Ty
Subject: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Bragga listens to Garyth's report grimly. A few feet away, Rennik pauses to listen as well, though his body practically quivers with impatience. When Garyth has finished, Rennik breaks in. "We must move on to cover. We can't stop again until we are under the trees, and have some protection from the witch and the archers. In the forest, the archers will have to move close enough to fire direct shots. I don't think they want to get that close to this large a group."
Bragga agrees, and he moves to another hilltop, waving his torch. "To me, Overlook! To me!" Then he leads the remainder of his flock after Rennik, who hurries off to find their path.
Garyth leads his party off to the right side of the mob, helping to guide the people, keep them from getting lost in the dark. It's like driving cattle, he thinks. Giles would be good at this. Garyth hoped that Giles was still alive back there somewhere.
At the head of the group, Rennik moves quickly, trying to find a trail that a mass of hundreds of people can follow in the dark. Several yards ahead of him, Tich trots with his nose pressed to the ground. It would be very tough for anyone to ambush them from the front, with the wolf's keen nose.
A few hours later, an exhausted mob of Overlook citizens stumble into the forests of Huss. Under the canopy of trees, it is even blacker than outside, if that's possible. Once everyone is in, Bragga calls a halt, and the town collapses. Garyth sets up a guard picket, and Rennik and Tich scout around the perimeter. It's all that anyone can do, as the town is too exhausted to do anything else.
Osred asks Garyth, "How many made it?" Garyth just shakes his head. "I guess we'll count in the morning."
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; The wrath of Elise
I don't know the surrounding area very well, but I think Kasen would want to put in a few miles, stop for a cat-nap and to air the horses and then hit the road again.
Pensive Offers Healing; Gully's or Bust
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
So we go to deeper darkness. Pensive ducks his head beneath a branch and feels a drip of sweat crawl down his spine. Sweat or blood? His arm is stiff and painful where the arrows had cut into him.
Others were hurt worse. Pensive slips down from his horse, and makes his way to Garyth. The captain is talking with Rennick and Osred, and Bragga-- Pensive pushes into their circle, and draws what few healing supplies he has left from his satchel.
OOC: Pensive will use what healing supplies he has left to help Garyth; then Osred; then any of the other soldiers who need it.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
No one else has anything to add?
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
OOC: A quick question. I assume we haven't had time to stop and bury Kenneth yet? He's probably getting pretty stinky by now.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
No, it's only been four or five hours since the attack.
Burying Kenneth, and making plans, is exactly the RP I was expecting, actually. The remains of the town have made it under the edge of the forest, but that's it at this point.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
OOC: I'm planning on doing a turn like that, and I also have a short dream sequence for the next time Garyth sleeps, but I've been a little busy. I'll try to get to it some time today, but I can't make any promises.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
No pressure.
I just wanted to make sure I didn't do the next turn before everyone got a chance to do their stuff.
Now that I know you want to do something, I'll wait.
From: Ty
Subject: Gully's or Bust; the first night
Kasen moves Storm over to the kneeling wizard. "Hand him up to me, friend. Storm and I will take care of him." Sa'id eyes the knight suspiciously for just a moment, then helps lift Farron up to him. Kasen settles the unconscious man in his arms, and begins riding to the east. Sa'id gathers up his horse and the pack animal and follows.
Though he worries about Farron being forced to move a long distance after his grievous injury, he knows that Kasen is right. They had to put some ground between themselves and the point of the attack. Perhaps Elise had the magic to find them anyway, but there was no reason to make it easy for her. And besides, Farrons injury was not a wound liable to open and bleed. His hurts were deeper than that. Sa'id didn't think being handled roughly could hurt him further than the shade already had.
After a couple hours of riding, Kasen finally calls a halt next to a small stream and a copse of trees. "We will rest here for a few hours." He hands Farron back down to Sa'id, and the wizard tries to make his friend as comfortable as possible on a bedroll.
"Try to get some sleep," Kasen says, then begins stripping off his heavy armor.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Gully's or Bust; the first night
Had Pelor answered his prayer?
That's all Sa'id can think as he rides after Kasen and Farron. Pelor had saved him through Cadfael, then abandoned Cadfael to die at Elise's hand. Now the god had pulled Farron from the brink of death directly, in response to Sa'id's earnest prayers. Hadn't he? ...or did Pelor simply do his utmost to keep the instruments of his will alive, casting them aside when their appointed task was complete? That was what fit the facts. Cadfael's reward for the sacrifice of his very sanity had been death, his soul consumed by the Devourer through the obsidian dagger that should have been used on Promise.
The necromancer is still brooding when Kasen calls a halt. He helps the knight stretch his friend out on a bedroll, gratified to see that Farron's breathing is still steady. Pelor takes good care of his instruments. He lingers a moment by his friend's unconscious form, hand resting on the other's shoulder. Whatever your motives, Pelor, Sa'id thinks to himself, I am grateful for my friend's life and my own. I will do your work... but I will not sacrifice so much of myself that I wither and die when your grace leaves me. I will not follow you blindly. I will destroy your enemies only because they are my enemies also. For my life and Farron's I owe you this service, but do not think that Cadfael and Farah are forgiven so easily.
Maybe never. I do not appreciate being manipulated.
Fak'ir alei'ha, Pelor. Think on it.
He gives Farron's shoulder a gentle squeeze, then rises and moves quietly over to his own bedroll. His eyes are closed before he is even prone, and he falls asleep almost instantly...
---------------
He stands over Farron's corpse, obsidian knife in his hand. There is blood everywhere, spattered on Sa'id's arms and chest. "Sed," a voice calls from behind him. He turns to see Kasen, sword drawn, standing maybe twenty paces away. "What have you done?"
"My name is Sa'id," he replies quietly. Kasen looks past him then, eyes widening. Sa'id turns again, and sees Farron rising... but not Farron -- a rotting zombie, eyes dangling from emptied sockets. Hands burst from the ground behind the dead wizard, lifeless bodies clawing their way to the surface. Sa'id nods at Farron, then faces Kasen once more. He can see the fear in the warrior's eyes, revels in it, a grin springing unbidden to his face. He raises his blood-soaked hands -- they burst into flame, but he is not burned. Behind Kasen, Sa'id can see Garyth and the others now. Garyth moves to stand with Kasen, sword drawn. Rennik's wolf growls.
"Burn, then," Sa'id murmurs, waving the zombie horde forward with a flaming hand.
---------------
...only to awaken what feels like seconds later, choking on bile, shivering from the clammy feeling of cold sweat coating his body. Visions of flame and death, slipping away from him even as he tries to remember what he saw.
Sa'id lies there, trembling, for some time. He listens to Farron's breathing, counting the seconds between each breath, ensuring the breathing is even by calculating a rolling average of the interval between the last ten breaths. It takes no significant effort, but is enough to relax him. Gradually he drifts off...
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Same here, my plan is to write it tomorrow or Sunday. If the game's moved on by then I'll do it as a retroactive thing.
Farron Uphill: Man of Action
Subject: Re: Gully's or Bust; the first night
Farron lays unconscious.
Burying Kenneth; St. Crispin's Day
Subject: Re: Gully's or Bust; the first night
2 quick questions, Ty. How many hours are we from Nesalin and what time is it?
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Gully's or Bust; the first night
Six hours from Nesalin, and it is around 4am.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Garyth sees Pensive approach and holds up a hand, forestalling the elf. "No," he says. "There are others out in the camp that need it more. And besides," he says, glancing at the wagon where Kenneth's body lies, "I still have work to do tonight." Did it come out a little more harshly than he intended? Perhaps. What did it matter, though, really? If the elf decides to take offense and leave, maybe it would be for the better. He was sure to be safer out on his own, with only himself to look after and without being in the midst of such a large and obvious target. Garyth turns away, calling for the Falcons to help him bury their comrade.
It doesn't take long before the grave is dug--five soldiers trained to entrench themselves quickly in combat need little time to dig merely one hole. Garyth looks up as he climbs out, but can't see the moon or stars; the forest canopy is too thick, or perhaps the demon's fog still clouds the sky. Kenneth's resting place won't feel much of Pelor's warmth, but hopefully he will be safe, cradled within Gaea's embrace. The grave will have no marker, and lying as it does surrounded by thick bushes and scrub, it will not be easy to find. It doesn't feel right, and in his heart Garyth apologizes to Kenneth, but hopefully this way will keep the young soldier's body from being desecrated by the dark one's minions.
Garyth takes a step back and watches as the Falcons lower their brother-in-arms into the grave. It's not pretty; even with his eyes closed, Kenneth looks anything but peaceful. A gaping arrow wound in the chest has that effect. One by one the Falcons climb out, dusting themselves off. They stand by the grave, looking at Garyth. What do they want? Ah, of course. They expect him to say something. He's the commanding officer; it's his place to do it. Garyth finds himself wishing he knew Kenneth better, that he could say something personal, something appropriate, but nothing comes. He looks down, searching Kenneth's features. "May Gaea accept you to her bosom, Kenneth, and protect you from the darkness." He's not sure where the words come from, but they'll have to do. "Pelor and Heironius grant us the strength and show us the way to let your death be not in vain." He looks around to the rest of the soldiers, a cold feeling touching the base of his spine. How many of them will still stand by the end of this? Will any?
Garyth looks to Osred, to see if the priest has any words or blessings before they cover Kenneth and leave him.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
"There are others in the camp that need it more," Garyth says.
Pensive pauses. "Perhaps, Garyth-- but you are the one that the camp needs the most right now." Guilt like ash in his mouth, gritty and hot. "I will wait until after you have seen to the guardsm-- to Kenneth. Then, I will tend to your wounds."
So Pensive follows the humans to a bare patch of earth. He watches men, come just from battle, disarm, remove their armor and shirts, and bend themselves to the earth to scoop out a grave for their dead friend. Pensive starts to join them, but thinks better of it. This was not a place where he could force himself into belonging. Not yet. At the grave, he was an accepted onlooker. Not a participant. But he offers what help as he knows is needed-- leather gloves, an extra shovel, a pick and a lever bar. He doesn't try to intrude here. Not this time.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Garyth looks to Osred, to see if the priest has any words or blessings before they cover Kenneth and leave him.
Osred steps to the foot of Kenneth's grave, gazing down toward the body, invisible now in the gloom, for a moment before clearing his throat.
"Kenneth died well. He was a Blood Falcon, and he died doing what Blood Falcons do--fighting to protect the people who live on this island. He wanted to live--blue hell, none of us want to die--but he knew when he took his oath he wasn't likely to last long enough to be awarded his parcel of land and his little pouch of gold."
He looks at the men assembled around him, catching and holding Garyth's eye for a moment as he speaks.
"Being a Blood Falcon was never about keeping safe, far away from battle. If it were, most of us wouldn't be here. Kenneth wouldn't have. I'm proud of the way Kenneth died, weapon in hand, fighting Evil. Evil! Think about that! Who here among you ever thought that you would test your blade against Evil itself? That's what you did tonight, make no mistake. Those things we fought may have had the shape of halflings, but they are an arm of Evil itself. We're all of us blessed by the gods, by Heironeus, by Pelor, by all the gods of Good here today. You're pissing down your legs at the thought of it, and you'd be crazy not to be. But you're standing up to it, and you're striking against it, and your gods know you can do it even if you doubt it.
If we survive, this is going to be the center of our lives--everything you ever do, everything you ever did before, it'll turn around this week, this fortnight. This is what you'll tell your grandkids about, and Kenneth and the men like him who fall in this will be the ones you weep over when you've had a tankard too many.
If we fall, we'll fall as we lived, protecting the farmers, the merchants, the lords and the ladies, the people of this island. If we fall we'll fall well, like Kenneth here, swords in our hands, the enemy's gore dripping from our blades. Either way, live or die, we'll fight, and we'll fight well. Be proud, men, you're warriors, chosen by the gods. Every damned one of you."
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Good gravy, Jake.
You're channeling Henry V; is it St. Crispin's day already?
:-D
Nice turn.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Thanks. I wasn't completely sure it was Osred--it's a bit more eloquent than he usually is--but it felt right, and I think he's had occasional bursts of eloquence before. If you were to ask him about it he'd probably tell you that his god was speaking through him, and he was as surprised as anybody else.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
Very nice turn, Jake.
I wish Farron could hear that. He'd probably get up and walk!
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
How funny, I almost said that exact same thing!
From: Mark
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Scattered to the winds...
I was thinking a bit more along the lines of Patton, but he would have said something about making the other poor bastard die. :)
Mark