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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Circus: The Story of the Kavetseki Incident (RPG)
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
Gunriana listens to Partick's summation with a grim smile.
"So the essence of it is, that even if all had gone according to plan, Mistress Yaris would have received her cargo, slaughtered the oxen, broken up the wagons, and left no trace that there ever had been a caravan to Cimenster.
What do you think she'll do when she learns that her principal agent is dead?
I'm sure you're a better trader than I am, friend. What exactly would you say our lives will be worth after we report to Yaris's warehouse?"
She turns away and peers into the gloom, towards the old gibbet. Gunriana's left hand falls automatically to the skull at her belt and she strokes it tenderly.
"My sister and I know something of ghosts. Bring my two silver coins that belonged to one of our dead, your sharpest knife, an iron vessel, and fire, as hot as you can make it. Tonight we stand between life and death. Tonight my mothers weigh you on their scales, trader, and wonder whether your life is worth a tale that they might want to hear.
I cannot promise you that the ghosts will not come tonight. I cannot promise you that you will see the sun rise. But I require your obedience and your oath, and the same from all who ask my protection. From your sworn word to stand against the darkness I will make a wall of stout shields and tried spears against the dead. And either my mothers will smile on us, or we die with our eyes towards the dawn.
Bring me my tools. And hurry. I have work to do."
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Partick hurries to obey, and others from the caravan help him, any protection is welcome in this benighted place.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Gunriana's magic certainly seemed their best bet to make it through the night, thought Dorainen, as he thumbed through Studia Humana. There was indeed a section on how to avoid ghosts, but most of the advice seemed to be "avoid places where there might be ghosts." Fat lot of good that was!
There were two pieces of advice that might help, it suggested the telling of jokes, and cursing.
He approached Johnson, the wagoneer he'd met on their first night with the caravan, who didn't seem to be doing much of anything useful, and asked him: "What do you call a dwarf with ear hair as bushy as his beard?"
"Um... I don't know..."
"Anything you like, he can't hear you!" Dorainen almost fell over laughing so hard, but Johnson didn't seem to be cheered (unless he was misreading human expressions again).
Plan B then. "Son of a nutcracker!"
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Clawdine stood by the fire and stoked it as offerings of more and more wood were brought to make it to the heat Gunriana required.
The oxen had been turned loose and some of the carts and yokes were being turned into firewood. For a moment the bonfire blazed higher than the city gates, illuminating the iron gibbet nearby. The ropes dangling from it began to swing wildly of their own accord. Clawdine instinctively drew closer to the fire.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary heard what Gunriana wanted. Fire and perhaps more than one fire. "Milt, we should surround ourselves with fires at the four cardinal directions". She pointed due south, "Go that direction with a few others for thirty paces and light a good size fire." She then chivied two other groups to go east and west and light fires while she went north to light a fire beside Gunriana. She also offered Gunriana her knife.
"Its good steel from the furnaces of the Volga smiths, made as a gift to my uncle in thanks for being a member of a crew that brought life-saving medicine to Volga during an outbreak of the black spot."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
Gunriana takes the skull and reverently kisses the greying upper jaw.
"Sleep, dear sister. It is not your restful soul that I would trouble this night."
Taking the coins, she drops them into the smallest iron pot.
"Trepik, soul of darkness, go in peace into the night. We mourn you, our brother. Bersark, child of the earth, be reunited to your maker. We mourn you, our brother."
Gunriana stares upwards at the black sky and howls, a savage, keening shriek. If Trepik and Bersark were ever loved by mortal soul, the witch's voice captures the pain of their loss for a brief instant. She drops her head, and tears fall into the bowl.
"Daniel! Aethelreda! If you live, go with our blessing, and if you are dead, pass into darkness with our love. The fates hold you, in light and in darkness, for good or ill."
Gunriana thrusts the iron pot into the fire, and takes the knife. In honour of the gods, she shapes As in the air, then scores her thumb with Nauðr, the binder. Working quickly, and heedless of the blood swelling between her fingers, she grinds the point and edge of the blade against the crown of the skull, cutting into the bone. When she is done, she drives the knife point first at a stony part of the ground. After three such thrusts, the blade shatters.
"Iron and stone, blood and bone, be witness that here stand men and dwarves, formed by the gods to make names that will endure. All the days of our life we walk the fates' path, in the twilight between life and death. We do not fear the dark."
She pulls the pot from the flames and looks at the small bubbling pool of silver. Raising the skull to her face, Gunriana licks the fragments of bone from the lines she had cut, then places it back on the ground. She pours the molten silver carefully, filling each cut line, and watching as the rune Maðr, the rune of mortal men, forms in gleaming silver under the light of the stars.
Raising the skull above her head, she addresses the others.
"This is your sister. As she is, you will be. Only my mothers now how many suns must rise before you are like her.
The day of your death is fated, and it is given to you only to choose to face death without fear. Stand with me, and when death comes you will our sister's peace, not the troubled bondage of the spirits of this place.
Come to me, kiss your sister, and make your oath, by whichever gods you serve, that those of us who stand in this unholy place will forever be true to one another. Swear that those who have sought our lives, those who would betray and cheat us, are the foes of us all. Swear to seek their harm, their disgrace, their ruin, their confusion, their despair and their death. Until my mothers give you peace, give them no peace. Swear it, and by our faith, by our courage, the ghosts will not come near you this night. They will feel our strength and our purpose, and cower in the shadows. Or if you will not, flee now - and let the hungry dead feast on your faithless soul! Make your choice, my dear brothers and sister."
Gunriana lowers the skull slightly, and kisses it, muttering her own oath of loyalty to any that will swear the same.
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Dorainen heard the witch's incantation. The joviality was over. There was a ruggedness to her magic that would always seem foreign to him, but that didn't mean he couldn't see the beauty in it. Or the power.
He realized what she was asking for. If he entered into such a compact with non-elves... would any elven commune ever take him? Not water elves for sure, he'd made his peace with that some time ago... There might be a few that would, if it was only humans, but with dwarves! If he made that oath, the minute a dwarf made it, he'd be consigning himself to the diaspora for the rest of his life.
But, if he didn't make it, maybe there wouldn't be much of a rest of a life to be had.
Of course, he could always seek to be released from the oath... But, he knew, if he went in thinking like that, any attempt to say the words of an oath would be pure simulation, without effect.
He cursed, wholeheartedly this time, and approached the skull.
Mayeb qidutzah, redon iynenih: iytayah unetoyahel; tom uneyvyo'
(By the water of righteousness, I myself do swear: my life for our lives; death to our enemies.)
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
"Come Foret. Do it. Her kind are not mere triflers."
The boy nodded, then looked straight ahead, the veins in his thin neck bulging slightly. Good. He knew to be afraid. He could overcome that fear.
The two followed after Dorainen. Foret put his hand tentatively on the proffered skull, stammered for a moment, then looked back at Jetse.
"Like this, Hand." Did the boy even have any gods of his own?
Jetse put his thumb to his lips, then traced three crossed rays on the skull. He took the boy's hand and placed it under his own on top of the head.
"Undying Light, we call on you now. Unyielding Dawn, come to your servants."
He drew his sword, and clasped it against the sun symbol on his breastplate.
"Flame of the Night, banish the darkness. Star of All Stars, guide us who follow. Radiant Strength, scatter your enemies. Invictus, Unbroken, come to us here."
He put back his sword, roughly pulled Foret's hand off the skull, and, with a last almost glare at Gunriana, walked away.
"Why did you say those things, Jetse? The elf didn't."
"Some keep to their gods. We keep to the Unconquered. There is only one for these times."
"Are there other gods?"
"Only one you should know now, Hand." He took a long look at the dwarves preparing themselves for their own part in the ritual. "The dark gods belong to those who remember the ways of the dark."
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Clawdine watched as Gunriana made her enchantments. Hewer had been supervising the dwarves as they cut a runnel in the earth around the circle of wagons. Now she ordered them to kiss the skull and pledge their strength to surviving in unity. One by one they did so. Clawdine followed them; spitting into each of her palms before grasping the skull and kissing its forehead.
As she handed the skull back, she heard a groan and a thump. Behind her the first of the oxen had had its throat slit. Its head lay across the runnel, and oxblood was trickling along the circular channel.
Blood and fire, fire and blood. The dwarves seemed to have their own ways of dealing with the demand for sacrifice in this place. At each point of the compass a beast was slaughtered, and the gutter quickly filled with blood.
Clawdine hoped it would all be enough.
[ 09. August 2014, 03:51: Message edited by: Banner Lady ]
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary watched as her knife splintered in Gunriana's hands, gift for life given for life. "Barring what the eternal sovereigns in agreement forbid, trust for trust, steadfastness for steadfastness, justice for injustice with those here I stand. Lady of the sea, copper tressed, witness my words and guide us in wisdom."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er watched Gunriana's incantations with a mixture of admiration and fear. He had already thrown in his lot with this group and if he needed to swear to that to stay alive, with what he had hidden in his pack and what he'd heard, he was prepared to do so and wholeheartedly. He followed Clawdine and the dwarves to the skull. He hesitated briefly, held the skull and said "I swear".
He turned to Gunriana, "Thank you for thinking of Mother Aethelreda and Daniel. I hope they are safe too. Do you need me to do anything? Or shall I help with the oxen and carts?"
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne had sat stone-still on the third wagon's bench, gripping its edges, even after the caravan had come to a halt, even as Dorainen went to talk to others of the party. When the elf came back and beckoned to her, she scrambled awkwardly down, almost falling in the mud. He bent close and whispered his news, careful for none of the guards or drivers to hear. Frithwynne listened to his tale, in horror at what he seemed to be telling her about Trepik. She only nodded though, to show she had heard and would guard the information closely. Dorainen went to seek out other members of the party, and Frithwynne stood silently, supporting herself on the wagon's wheel. She was briefly sick.
[ 09. August 2014, 19:50: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne had been going to calm the oxen but before she had moved someone came and told her the group needed to gather around Gunriana and the fire.
As she watches the savage ritual, Frithwynne can't even remember who told her to come. The words and the actions unsettle her, and she is unnerved at the required oath. She would willingly give her word to follow and help the group, but to swear it with such uncompromising pledges seems like trifling with powers better left unraised. But she believes the Lady Gunriana's intimation that any one not swearing will face death tonight, and Frithwynne has more sense than to tempt whatever evil powers surround this place.
She steps forward, takes the skull, and raises it briefly to face somewhere between the smoke and the witch.
"I swear."
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
He turned to Gunriana, "Thank you for thinking of Mother Aethelreda and Daniel. I hope they are safe too. Do you need me to do anything? Or shall I help with the oxen and carts?"
"Safe, Er? None of us are safe. We already face enemies whose powers we neither know nor comprehend, and tomorrow it seems not unlikely that we add this Lady Yaris to our list of foes. Aethelreda and Daniel are in my mothers' hands, as are we.
Tonight we watch, and mourn, and rest. Tonight we see if the ghosts will come, and if they do, we defy them. Tomorrow we see what Trepik was bringing to Cimenster, and we make our choice about whether to keep his appointment. And we begin to find out who our enemies are and how we can hurt them. Whether we succeed or fail in that will decide the fate of John, Daniel and Aethelreda. I do not think the forces against us will have forgotten them, no matter how far they contrive to run."
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Clawdine peered through the smoke at the night sky, and muttered "'Ow long 'til dawn, d'yer reckon?" to Dorainen.
Around them the dwarves were busy. It could take two hours for a large animal to be butchered well, and she could see they were experts with their knives. The skins were being carefully scraped three times, and the unwanted bits were thrown outside the circle of blood. The smell of blood and offal mingled with the smoke, while the oxen still alive rolled their eyes in fear.
Clawdine turned her attention back to the fire. She hoped there was enough fuel to keep it ablaze until morning.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
Foret watched the dwarves and their savage ritual with a barely concealed mixture of repulsion and curiosity.
"A Ritual of Darkness, Hand." Jetse had noticed the boy watching. "Frees life for those who take it. Purifies the darkness so none need fear it."
"But your god…you worship the light? Isn't the dark evil?"
"We are men. We remember light. We need it. Bring it into darkness with us. Dwarves live in darkness. For them, it protects. Saves. Defends. For those who know the dark, it is good."
"But doesn't the city need food? Why waste the ox when people and dwarves starve? Didn't the witch lady already protect us?"
Jetse sighed. The things he'd have to teach the boy…
"You think the Race of Stone wastes anything? In their temples, even the blood would be saved to temper their weapons. The meat will go to the hungry. The life will go to those who seek it. A life force is food to many foul creatures. Give one to them. They won't take yours. Come. No more questions. Fear keeps all awake. Let us use this."
Jetse walked into the wagon circle, with Foret following after him.
No need for preliminaries. To the point.
"We have been noticed. The city guard must have seen us. Seen our fires. Heard the oxen dying. A besieged city watches. We bring supplies. Food. Relief. We will be met at the gates. We might receive payment. Might have goods commandeered. Supplies are welcome. Extra mouths are not.
"Er. You and Gunriana will talk. There are Palatine refugees? They will keep themselves apart. We find them. Hope the Dværglov holds. That law will not break. The dwarves might help us, if for a price. Yaris will not.
"Find who knows the city. Find its weaknesses. Exploit them."
[ 10. August 2014, 01:09: Message edited by: Ariston ]
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
"Lady Gunriana" Mary asked,"would salt help defend us; certainly I've heard of some who use it. If so I gather the fortified wagon has some boxes."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne was near enough to overhear what Mary said to Gunriana. She move closer and spoke softly:
"Yes, six crates of salt, lined with gold mesh and concealing, we think, diamonds or some other small things which can be sieved out using the mesh."
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er looked at Lady Gunriana, "we at least are together, the Doctor is on his own in this benighted land, and who knows if the nun and Daniel are together."
The fires around the wagon circle, glinting on the blood and ox carcases, adding even more red to Mephistophelian scene. Er wondered if the slaughter and blood was really going to keep them safe or to entice in whatever lurked in the darkness beyond, but Gunriana seemed to know what she was doing.
Turning back, "Do you know what we are carrying in the fortified wagon? I guess it will be going to the Lady Yaris? I may be able to help a bit with that." He raised his eyebrows and waited to see if Gunriana is interested in what he has to say.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
"Yaris could find an easier way to smuggle diamonds between two major ports than one that involves her arranging the deaths of fifty wagoners and guards. And if she isn't intending to kill our friends, then I've never smelled treachery.
So, yes, I would like to know what is in those chests. If it's important enough for the leader of the Council to make a whole wagon train disappear, it is probably the most important part of any plan we make.
But by my counsel, we should wait for the dawn. If we are about to meddle with something of power, then I'd choose to do it by sunlight, and without the threat of ghosts."
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
"If we are to wait for the sun," interjected Dorainen, "it should be no later than dawn's first light.
"We were expected at dawn, and any later than that may well be too late. Instead of fighting ghosts, we may be fighting Yaris' hired help. I for one would like to know what they're looking for before they start trying to find it."
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
"I also propose we all pay a visit to the supply wagon. It was well enough stocked with weaponry when Trepik let us take one weapon each for us to have our choice: presumably, there is more there which we may need to defend ourselves."
Dorainen hoped that it had not been the supply wagon which had caught on fire on the isthmus. That would be very bad luck.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Clawdine cackled to herself as she overheard bits of conversation.
Why would any wagon master lodge all the weapons in the last wagon? It made no sense whatever to her. Surely the weapons would have been kept closest to the most precious part of the cargo?
Were weapons going to be of any use, even if they found them? She doubted it. Jetse was the only warrior they had. One by one the survivors of the shipwreck were disappearing. And the gates of Cimenster did not look exactly welcoming.
She wondered if this oath of unity would be their salvation or their undoing. Her old eyes peered across the flames into the sinister darkness beyond. 'Well, bain't thiz a cheery place, then?' she asked herself, and began humming a nonsense song under her breath as she stoked up the fire.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
"Finding weapons would be wise. Likewise, for those of us who can use them, herbs and bandages, if the wagons carry healing supplies. And we should keep plenty of torches and lanterns ready to be lit. If the ghosts come, it would be better to fight them in the light.
But remember, our protection this night lies not in the strength of our arms but in the strength of our faith. Stand together, hold to your oaths, and we prevail."
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er realised how wet he was and that his pack, the one he had collected from the stores wagon, was even wetter from the storm they had travelled through. He wondered what had happened to the samples of salt he and Frithwynne had taken from the chests in the fortified wagon. Peering inside his pack his suspicion that the salt was now gone is confirmed but he has a good half handful of diamonds along the seams of his pack. Turning to Gunriana he mutters:
"Is this what you thought we might be carrying? Frithwynne and I took a sample from each chest, just a handful, so six handfuls in all. That rainstorm seems to have washed away the salt, all I have left is half a handful like this," he continues as quietly as he can, holding out his fist to hand over one of the diamonds to Gunriana discreetly and hidden from any observers.
Out loud he turns to Dorainen, "That's a good idea. The knife I collected from the stores looks very tarnished from that storm we came through. I would like to collect a better weapon if we could."
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
"A new knife for me also," said Mary, "and also some more line if there is any."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
Gunriana looks at Er's diamonds in astonishment.
"That is certainly not what I expected. Who would carry such wealth into a city under blockade?
One thing we can be sure of, though - whoever is expecting delivery of this cargo is going to take a great deal of trouble to find it when it goes missing. Even if they weren't already intending to make this caravan disappear, these are the sort of riches which make bloodshed inevitable.
Tomorrow we need to start finding out what is happening in Cimenster, and which side we are on. If any."
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er turned to his companions and addressed Gunriana, "If Dorainen, Mary, Frithwynne, if she wishes to come, and I go and find what we can in the stores to arm ourselves now, leaving you, Jetse and Foret with Clawdine, then we can keep watch while you go?"
He turns to Partick, "Would it be a good idea for us to find what we can to arm ourselves in the stores? To face whatever may be coming?"
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary looked at the diamonds also. "What purpose indeed. Diamonds can cut anything, they are small and valuable though not as much as the colored gems such as rubies and emeralds. Can they be used in magic? And where from?" Mary considered trade routes in her head, "Possibly frozen Uszek far to south and east and traded north to the salt desert since that is where Trepik was most recently. And do they belong to Trepik or was he merely the carrier and the owner innocent of any wish or acceptance of Trepik's attempt to harm us and others."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eliab:
Who would carry such wealth into a city under blockade?
"Tribute. Bribery to spare the city. Small, easily concealed, everywhere valued—a good payment to a sea rover."
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
"Can you fight ghosts the and undead with weapons ?" Responds Partick.
[ 12. August 2014, 17:59: Message edited by: Doublethink ]
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
"Can you fight ghosts the and undead with weapons ?" Responds Partick.
"Undead can be fought. Their shell, destroyed. We ended the dolgarkin. Ghosts fear weapons, and love the blood of sacrifices. Those we cannot destroy, we can satisfy."
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
"I am also worried about what may follow the ghosts once dawn comes. I have not had occasion to use my long bow on this trip, but I'm sure the supply wagon has arrows which are newer, sharper and truer than mine." replied Dorainen.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er looked through the stores wagon, hoping for a hand axe that he could swing in a battle but would also be useful for tinkering work. He also needed a knife as his current knife had been in his pack with the salt when it was soaked in the storm. The knife was easy, but there wasn't anything obvious in the way of an axe, was there?
As he walked across the wagon floor, checking the far corners and to see if there was anything tucked in the back he felt something move under some sacking and clunk against the wagon floor suggestively. He knelt down and investigated. Goodness, what was this?
It was a magnificent axe, covered with carvings, a bit tarnished, but that shade of brownish grey made him wonder if it was silver plated. And those carvings, he's seen something like that before, where? Ah, yes, the amulet worn by Trepik. Could this axe have belonged to Trepik?
Er descends from the wagon carrying his prize carefully and returns to the fire where Gunriana is to be found. He shows the axe to the others and asks if they recognise the markings and have any idea with they might mean.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne followed the others to the stores wagon, but once inside she was at a loss. Maces and axes would be too heavy for her to wield. She'd never touched bow and arrows. She hefted some of the longer knives, thinking to improve her reach over the short knife she had, but the handles were too big for her hand and she feared she would drop them if it ever came time to use.
The stores wagon contained quite a variety of things, and as Frithwynne was surveying the weapons disconsolately, her eye was caught by a jumbled pile in the far corner. Going to investigate, she found a tangled heap of furs and fine chains. Something for barter and profit on the side of the caravan's main mission? No matter the purpose, she found a long chain in the pile.
It had a low sheen to it, reddish. The links were neither so fine as to break easily, nor so weighty that she couldn't heft it. Every handspan along was a stone. Rubies, thought Frithwynne. Or maybe sapphires or emeralds; she only knew of these from fairytales her mother had told her when she was a child, and she had never been able to keep straight which name went with which color. But she had loved the stories of stones which were cool to the touch yet shone with their own inner light. And though the firelight illuminated the inside of the stores wagon only imperfectly, the stones seemed to glow with a fire which was more than merely reflected from flaming wood.
She wanted the chain with a sudden desperate yearning, and all thoughts of weapons, too-heavy maces and over-large knives, forgotten, she reached out her hand and pulled the chain to her, coil by coil.
Once out of the stores wagon, she sank down by the front wheel of the wagon and tried coiling and looping it this way and that, to figure out how best to carry it.
[ 13. August 2014, 22:50: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary followed Frithwynne into the wagon and chose an ordinary knife suitable for cutting line or one's dinner (even if the meat was tough). She kept the unlit torch in one hand and rejoined Gunriana outside.
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Clouds covered the moon. Indistinct shapes could be seen at the edge of the firecast light beyond the wagons.
Then Hewer froze, as a Dolgarkin crawled forward and lay with its skull in the blood gulley as if drinking ...
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
"Jetse. They are coming. Dolgarin—just at the edge of vision, watching us."
"Then ready yourselves! We have fire. Let them come to us. We will wait. Face them from strength. Feed them to the fire. Go!"
Jetse turned towards the assembled caravan. "Dolgarin approach! Do not fear. They will come to us. Push them hard into the flames. The fire will destroy them. We will preva—"
"CRAW!"
"What is that, Dorainen?"
"Just a bird in the trees—a…robin, I think?"
"Raven, more like it. Can be possessed. The unquiet dead need form. Destroy a shambler, they take a beast. Pests of old battlefields, the skyggeravne. Southern taiga full of them. Kill the bird, the spirit flies. They go for the eyes. Keep your bow handy. Don't let them get close."
***
Exhorted by Jetse, the companions steel themselves and those most gifted run to the edge of the circle of protection ...
Lit by the dancing flames, with the iron smell of blood inhaled with every breath, they face the crazed and insensate remnants of life destroyed.
***
Er looks worriedly around. He is stationed out beyond the wagons and is guarding the circle near the fire on the north side of the camp. He is holding the axe in his hands but as he stands and shivers in anticipation he doubts the strength of the blade. Is it silver and decorative? Because if so it will bend and flex uselessly if he uses it against anything. Could it be silver plate on something with a bit more strength and power? Better not to use it in battle, better not find out the hard way failing spectacularly, especially as Jetse has said to push the ... the ... Dolgarkin into the fire.
Nervously he looks about him. There! over there! A shadow, moving, coming towards him. Ulp, now what? That awful feeling of butterflies in his stomach and wobbly knees, then ... suddenly, on an adrenaline surge Er swings the axe around his head and shouts as he charges at the creature. His momentum carries him forward and helps him push the dolgarkin into the fire, with Er nearly following it in, but the heat of the fire warns him. He sways off balance but he is still swinging the axe and that helps him turn his path sideways, to veer clear of the fire and stumble out beyond. He almost overbalances into the darkness, but Er is still full of fight and turns back towards the fire to check for ravens. Nothing.
Er suddenly finds himself shaky with relief as he moves back towards his station, knees wobbling again, but differently. He hopes that the awful smell of burning dolgarkin will act as a deterrent to others nearby.
***
Mary stations herself as first on the right of the east fire, safest to be near a fire given she was no fighter and safer for the party if all that could should try to defend the perimeter. To her right about seven feet away stood Milt Docker, armed with a quarter staff. A skeleton ran from the surrounding scrub, jumped the blood line, and attacked Milt with outstretch bony arms. Milt swung his staff and pushed it, worm eaten scum, towards her. She grabbed with her left hand one arm of the off-kilter skeleton to pull it further off kilter and jabbed with the torch in her right hand to force it into the fire where the dolgarkin collapsed and burst into blue and green flames.
***
Dorainen took an arrow from his quiver and set it in his bow. The fletchings were marked with Trepik's symbol, but it was a fine arrow. It felt good to dispose of it and dispatch a foe at the same time. He took aim, draw back his arm, feeling that familiar tension in his right bicep, set his feet, held his breath and fired. The dolgarkin didn't stand a chance. He'd say it went straight through the heart if he knew they had them. Regardless it went straight down, finally dead.
***
Jetse skirted to the back of an approaching dolgar, then, before the construct could turn to face him, bull rushed it towards the fire, slamming his shoulder into its back. The aberration fell under the force.
"Hand! Pull!"
Jetse grabbed one bony hand, Foret the other. The two of them dragged the writhing, bony construct towards the fire, fighting off its attempts to squirm free. One particularly hard tug broke off the arm Jetse was holding; a quick toss and it was burning green, and the Guardian had taken hold of the creature's leg before it could break loose and attack Foret.
"Quickly!"
Jetse was taking some hard kicks to his breastplate. Fragments of bone were breaking off with each blow against the steel.
"Throw!"
The two of them tossed the dolgar lengthwise into the edge of the fire. For a moment, it looked as if it might escape the flames, but, as Jetse reached for his sword, it collapsed the logs on top of it with its writhing. The flames leapt green as the wild magic and unquiet spirits were freed from the bones.
***
Clawdine watched as the dolgarkin crept forward out of the darkness. The gutter of blood drew them like ants to honey. Soon there were so many drinking that the ones behind could not get to it. But the smell of the freshly butchered meat in the wagons hung in the air. Using the first row of dolgarkin as a bridge, the ones in the rear launched themselves over and into the circle of wagons.
Some paused on top of the wagons, ripping through the coverings with their teeth and nails, hungry for flesh. She saw one fall as Dorainen's arrow found it's mark. Jetse and Foret were flinging them into the fire as fast as they appeared past the wagons, and all around her men and dwarves swayed and pushed at the ravenous foe.
Puffs of green and putrid smoke sputtered from the flames like a poisonous fireworks show. Clawdine stood her ground, flaming brand in hand as one leapt towards her.
The creature was impaled through the chest with the brand; as Clawdine cackled with glee, her form shimmering between youth and age, the skeleton exploded into firery fragments spinning out catching the other Dolgarkin within the circle of protection unerringly. The firey explosions of Dolgarkin rippled out from Clawdine's stand like a shockwave, leaving less than a handful intact.
***
Gunriana looks left and right as the dead things close on the caravan. Already missiles are flying, but the creatures stumble on through the erratic smattering of rocks and crossbow bolts as they reach the fires. She sees one go down with Dorainen's arrow through its chest, and then blows are being struck on all sides.
Her left hand is raised, bearing the skull, a symbol of death marked with a rune of life, for both the living and the dead despise these twisted things whose very existence is a betrayal of mortal nature. They must be destroyed. Nothing else matters.
Gunriana walks on in a trance, dimly aware that as she advances she is screaming something to her companions, but barely conscious of her words she shrieks to drive them onward. The dolgarkin on either side are fighting, and being pushed back, but another is limping directly towards her, dragging a leg transfixed with a broken quarrel, baring its gravestone-grey teeth in a hungry leer. She looks down at her right hand, and sees it empty, and time slows as she draws her scramasax. As the creature lurches forward she swings the blade, which crashes into its shoulder, but fails to bite.
Suddenly the air is full of fluttering black wings, and two ravens crash together, vying for the pleasure of tearing at the witch's face. Gunriana flinches away, and falls heavily to her knees. The dolgarkin's clawed hands sweep the air just above her hair, as the ravens circle for another attack.
Gunriana thrusts the blade wildly, and her arm hits something with a jarring thud, sending the blade spinning away into darkness. Screaming in desperation, she hurls herself forward and upward, striking the ghoul just below the ribs, and slamming it forward towards the fire. Sensing the danger, it tries to turn, but loses balance, hitting the flames and rolling away, burning fiercely.
The ghoul ravens swoop again, but the witch is ready.
"Only light and fire for you here!" she yells, shaping Sol in the air, and stepping aside as the dazzled bird crashes into the fire. The second raven tears at her with its claws, cawing loudly as it draws blood, while it looks for an opening to stab its beak at her eyes.
"Help me, sister!" she cries, flailing at the air with the skull, and succeeding only in making the bird take wing for a moment.
Gunriana looks up at the dark lustre of the raven's wings, and on an impulse traces Ar, rune of plenty, over the skull.
"Food, brother..." she whispers, as the bird screeches with delighted greed, and plunges its head into the skull's left eye socket. With a savage twist, the witch jerks her wrist downwards, and snaps the raven's neck.
Dropping to one knee, she gently smoothes the feathers of the little corpse, straightening its head back into place, and feeling its warmth fade into the air and the earth.
"I am sorry, little friend. You were prey to a spirit you could not fight. Fly free now, brother. Fly free."
Gunriana stands and walks back towards the fight, the skull raised once more as a banner of triumph.
***
Frithwynne felt the claustrophobic sense of danger ringing the camp. She got up to look for Mary or Gunriana for advice on how to fight whatever it was that was coming. But too late. Jetse was shouting, and bone-things were howling as they came in between the wagons.
Frithwynne found herself directly in the path of one. Nauseated, she lashed out at it with her triple-folded chain, but it was still out of reach and kept advancing. A raven flew from its mouth and flapped in tight circles, shrieking.
Frithwynne swallowed against the rancid taste of bile and lashed with the chain again. This time she connected with the thing's forearm, but it didn't pause. A raven flew out of its left eye socket and unfolded impossibly wide wings as it joined the first raven, flying widdershins above the battle.
Frithwynne's blow had not affected the creature, but the jerk as chain met undead flesh threw her off-balance and she fell to the side. The creature shambled past her and turned, shaking its head in short arcs as if trying to pick up her scent again.
Jetse's shouted words finally made their way into Frithwynne's consciousness. "The fire!", that's what he had said. The chain was never going to work. Sobbing in terror, Frithwynne rushed straight at the bone-thing's rib cage. Her momentum took them both into the fire. Frithwynne rolled away, burning her hands as she scrambled backwards. The bone-thing lay on its back, threshing its limbs, as if unable to comprehend what had happened to it. Tendrils of smoke rose from its joints, and suddenly it was consumed by a blot of green and black flame.
The ravens swept towards Frithwynne. She could see their unblinking red eyes and their black tongues ululating in triumph. "No!" she screamed. She grabbed a brand from the fire, and swept it at the ghoul birds. She connected with one and it fell to the ground, one wing broken. It dragged itself towards Frithwynne, its good wing beating a frenzy. Frithwynne raised the brand and brought it down on the raven. The fright and rage propelling her blow smashed the bird, and it was nothing but a bloody heap.
The other raven had pulled away to safety at Frithwynne's blow that had brought down its kin. Now it stooped and landed on the dead bird, clawing the flesh with its talons and pecking with its sharp bill. Frithwynne stared, horrified at the raw cannibal greed. Such a thing mustn't exist. She advanced with her brand. The raven raised its head and stared sideways at her, bloody flesh clinging to its beak. Frithwynne circled, staring back warily. The raven turned, watching her, sensing danger but unwilling to leave such rich food.
Frithwynne brought the brand down in a great overhead arc, but the raven took off just before the brand crashed, and flew straight into Frithwynne's face. "Ahhhh!" cried Frithwynne, and fell to her hands and knees. Her right hand connected with the chain she had dropped as she rushed the bone-thing into the fire. She grabbed it and rolled onto one hip, desperately swinging the chain. The raven snatched at one of the glimmering stones, and the sweep of the chain smashed the bird into the earth, where it lay, unmoving.
Frithwynne unsteadily pushed her way back to her feet. The bird's open eye was already clouding from red to ashy grey. Frithwynne's burned hands sent waves of pain as they clenched the chain, but she couldn't bring herself to loosen her grip. She stood frozen, staring at the dead bird.
[ 16. August 2014, 08:44: Message edited by: Doublethink ]
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Breathless, the companions and the caravan members spin round expecting further attacks, looking for casualties, unable to believe it could be over.
But the dawn is breaking, and all that lies upon the ground are the remnants of their sacrifices, scattered pieces of bone-shaped charcoal, a couple of the elf's arrows, and a few dead ravens.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary looked at the eastern sky becoming brighter, glad to see the end of what seemed one of the longest nights she had ever known. Beyond the scrubby land in front of her lay the pebbled strand and the waters of the great bay of Balatrey and beyond that perhaps hidden in the distant clouds, the mainland. No more of those walking skeletons could be seen. She turned to survey the party then to Milt, "I'm going to check on those who have been wounded, keep watch".
Frithwynne looked like she needed tending so she went to her. Old man Docker was lading out hot drinks and one of the wagoners was telling a group about what he had seen Jetse doing and also about that strange young woman who he had seen appear and disappear.
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne wanted to say something to Mary, but no words would come. She stared mutely at Mary, then lifted her fists as if in offering, with the backs of her hands facing the ground. She was still clenching the chain.
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
As the sky began to lighten and colour with the dawn Er looked around from where he was still stationed on the northern corner, refocussing his eyes from the grim attention of straining to see movement and attack, rubbing them as they were sore. He wondered if they still needed to be on guard and glanced over to others defending the area and saw they were beginning to huddle in chattering groups and that, other than the smell of burning bone and feathers still permeating the air, the threat seemed to have gone.
Er turned inwards, towards the centre of the circle and headed towards the rest of the party. He wondered what they were going to have to face next. How had everyone else fared? Was anyone hurt? Should they be planning what to do when the gates opened?
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Mary noticed that a few of the dwarves were tending the wounded by one of the wagons. A couple were filling up all the available buckets from the well just to the west of the encampment and bringing them back.
"There, there," Mary said to Frithwynne, "Come sit down by the water buckets and put your hands in one."
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Dorainen tried his best to cry out, "Is anyone *badly* hurt?"
He could only heal a few at a time, and they may not have much time. He really needed someone to triage for him, but maybe people would do that naturally, now that they were sufficiently troop-bonded.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Er saw Dorainen, Mary and Frithwynne near some buckets and walked over to join them. Mary seemed to be caring for Frithwynne whose hands looked hurt. Er turned to Dorainen and asked what needed doing.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
Frithwynne lowered the chain into the bucket. Her hands too, but it was the chain she cared about. She felt as if she had come in contact with some unspeakable evil, and as if she had done wrong to use something as beautiful as the chain in combatting such filth. She didn't know if she could wash it clean, but she would try.
She could feel blisters forming on her hands. When Dorainen called out for who needed his help, she looked at Mary and nodded her head towards the elf, as if to beckon him over, hoping Mary would understand. She still couldn't find any words. She didn't much care about healing on her own account, but even in the shattered world that she found herself in after the battle, a sense of duty remained that told her she needed to be as fit as possible if she were to uphold the oath she had vowed on Gunriana's attendant skull.
She tried to remember the calm feeling she had had sitting by the wagon wheel moving the chain through her fingers, but that world from before the battle no longer made any sense.
[ 17. August 2014, 02:10: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Clawdine stood amazed as the dawn revealed so little. The night of terror was reduced to a few smoking embers and a couple of dead birds.
"Well," she winked at Gunriana. "No one can zay we don't clean up after ourzelvz. Wonder wot sort o' welcome we're goin' ter get now?"
The party looked up as one when the gates began to creak open.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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The creaking of the gates galvanized Frithwynne. Gobbets of putrid flesh from her collision with the bone-thing still clung to the front of her kirtle. She yanked the chain from the water and ran to the stores wagon, where she had left her knapsack by the front wheel. She dropped the chain and unlaced the kirtle, paying no mind to her blistered hands. She tore off the kirtle, and in her shift ran to the fire, where she balled up the kirtle and thrust it into the remaining embers. Back to the knapsack. Her back was spasming again, but she ignored the pain and pulled out the new kirtle she had gotten from the stores, oh, impossibly long ages ago now. She shrugged into it and stood lacing it up with clumsy rushed fingers.
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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The gates were creeping open, who knew what was about to emerge from them. Whatever it was, the fitter we were to deal with it, the better. It was easier to heal when Dorainen could use touch, and form a clear intention about how to direct the healing flow, but none of that was necessary. He sang the most abbreviated chant his lips could find, and asked the ***healing flow*** to do what it could in such little time for any injured in this band, human or dwarf.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Dorainen knew it should be technically ***easy*** to heal simple burns, but directing the healing flow to so many individuals would take all his energy and focus.
[ 17. August 2014, 19:18: Message edited by: Doublethink ]
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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