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Source: (consider it) Thread: Circus: SOF RPG: Story for Prince Testwe's Peregrination
Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Main Party

As the crow flies, it passes above a disparate party. Ahead are two huge men - the one to the left in battle scarred armour, the one to the right in a bear skin cloak.

Behind them slowly rides a beautifully dressed young man on a fine boned white horse. A tall man - dressed in green and brown garments that fit him like a glove - walks close on his left hand side. A disinterested observer might find this odd, for he is clearly not a groom.

Behind these two, a small knot of people, a slim man in black robes, a young woman in leggings and jerkin, and a youth gesturing about something enthusiastically.

Last, comes a bright blue caravan - holding the reins to the cart horse pulling it, is a large figure wrapped in shawls. Sat beside, a lean man with an exuberance of curly brown hair. On the back of the cart horse lies a black haired child, apparently asleep.

Daniel & Arabella

Flying south east the crow flies high above two figures, huddled in a dip of land next to the churchyard copse.

She has no idea who he is, but he spoke strange words in the crypt, light came from his mouth and the ravening shadows fled. She does not know why the cave led to the crypt, why the shadows ceased to be the comforting dark, and became a terrible hunger. She knows she trusts him.

We shall come to know these fated dozen well, my listeners, we shall hear from their own mouths, their struggle and their glory - see below they speak

[ 15. June 2016, 18:13: Message edited by: Belisarius ]

--------------------
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

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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549

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Daniel is trying to remember the last time he had a conversation with a woman who wasn't in an underwired nightdress. And even then he's not sure that shouting 'back back fiend' at someone who is only after your carotid artery really counts as a conversation. He casts around for some light small talk.
'So umm... Milady Adventurer, were your parents also killed in front of your face when you were ten years old?'

[ 06. May 2014, 21:05: Message edited by: Dafyd ]

--------------------
we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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Brandon thinks it wise to keep his eyes shut and pretend sleep as he slowly wakes... Or comes to?

He feels the unsettling disorientation that comes from genuinely not knowing when the hell one is. Who is that lady, and that dude with the weird hair? Why is he slung on the back of a horse? Did someone win him in a poker game?

Again?

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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Jay-Emm
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# 11411

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That was a successful hunt, but it is good to be moving again if we are to be at our destination before nightfall. Let us make a good pace.
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Prince Testwe feels it important make his expectations known

[ 06. May 2014, 21:54: Message edited by: Doublethink ]

--------------------
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

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Adam.

Like as the
# 4991

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"Yes, my dear Prince, a most successful hunt," lied Hestor, quite convincingly. A squirrel had somehow managed to trip and impale itself on that obnoxious flute of his and now the prince considered himself a great huntsman.

"As admirable as your Royal Highness's desire for speedy progress is, I wonder if we might stop awhile in that churchyard which I'm sure you noticed. No, sir: the other direction. Yes, that's it. It's barely a mile out of our way and I'm sure your father would consider it a very educational experience for you."

While Hestor didn't really do 'comfortable' -- comfort was the refuge of those insufficiently alert to the next angle they should be exploiting -- graveyards were a place he almost approached feeling comfortable. Surrounded by the dead, one could breath the satisfaction of superiority. Whatever these men and women might have possessed in their lives, they were now dead and Hestor alive. It was a cheap sense of victory, but not one he had ever considered at all dangerous.

--------------------
Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Though Teswe seemed reluctant, Hestor thought that persuading the Prince would be ***Ridiculously Easy***, so he continued to try ...

[ 06. May 2014, 22:40: Message edited by: Doublethink ]

--------------------
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

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IngoB

Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700

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Bayani looks up briefly as Prince Testwe is getting ready to speak. He then clicks his tongue loudly at Ik and Jetse to draw their attention, and briefly puts his hand to his ear, as signal for them to start listening. "This is going to be interesting..." he thinks as he drops back slightly, and comes to stand between the prince's horse and the second group. "The man who talks too much has much to hide," he remembers his master saying. His eyes briefly flicker to Prince Testwe: "Not this one though...", they flicker back to Hestor, "... this one." He stands still and waits, with his eyes wandering around to spot any incoming movement coming towards the convoy from the back.

--------------------
They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Hestor was quietly satisfied as, despite the grumblings of the soldiers, the party turned from the path to head toward the church. He might be dragged along on this foolish princeling's 'great adventure' but at least he could indulge in some enjoyable excursions.

[ 06. May 2014, 22:56: Message edited by: Doublethink ]

--------------------
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

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Autenrieth Road

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This is what it was like for Arabella:

She was at Witt's End again, stuck as usual getting nowhere, and thinking she would have to stop and start all over again at the little house by the stream. She was going to vent her frustration with a loud "Cripes" even though the cave would only politely inform her that it didn't know what she meant. But her fingers, or her tongue, slipped, and out came "Crypt", and all of a sudden she was in a stone room she had never seen before.

The room had a small, close feeling, yet also seemed to stretch away into distant reaches sensed rather than seen between columns which seemed to be both squat and oddly tall. She had barely registered the overturned sawhorses and the cast-down coffin spilling a length of blood-red silk from under its half-open lid ("and how very real that particular blood-red shade is," Arabella started to think), but no time to notice coffins or think of colours, before thin pale fingers grasped her wrist, strange words and unexpected light spilled from the stranger's mouth, and he was pulling her outside, then out from under the trees, and into a hollow where his grip did not loosen until he had pulled her down beside him sheltering behind the merest ripple of a fold of land.

And now he was speaking to her, in words that she had not heard or thought of for long years.

"Parents?" she croaked through dry lips. She couldn't remember much before the first time she found herself outside the stream-house, wondering what to do.

A word came to her. How did she know this word? No matter, she would try it. A new word in a new place. "Arabella," she offered. And then, because she was feeling something she very rarely felt in the cave, even as familiar as the cave had become: "Safe. With you."

--------------------
Truth

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Noon has past, we enter: Day 2

--------------------
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

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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505

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Clawdine yawned and wondered where the Prince was going this time. She flicked King's reigns gently to alert him they were turning, and to warn the boy his services were probably going to be required shortly.

The pattern was always the same. Hector would determine where they would stay for the night, guards would be set, the scout sent out by Hector to find water for the horses. Meanwhile Clawdine knew exactly where to put her caravan so King would get refreshed first. Then Brandon would "find" the watering place, Clawdine would be ordered away, and Hector would bask in the credit.

She shook her head. Must be time for a pipe soon.

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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.

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Eliab
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"A successful hunt?" muttered Gunriana to herself. Perhaps it had been, though half the morning gone for a fraction of the food that any of the local farms and villages could have supplied scarcely represented a good bargain. The Prince, though, was referring to the sport, of finding and following a trail, of sighting the prey, of the sudden thrill of pursuit and the clean kill at the end. But the real value of the exercise lay in the opportunity to study the others. Bayani, the foreigner, was one to watch - a dangerous man who moved like a snake, and the only one who seemed at all likely to keep Prince Testwe in view during the chase. Ik and Jetse were more imposing, certainly, and His Highness was fortunate to have such protectors, but what good would even a giant of a man like Ik do if the Prince outpaced him every time a hare or pheasant started from cover along the way?

Gunriana smiled to see Hestor subtly steer his master to do his bidding. Again. There was much to learn from Master Snear.

Was the same true of Clawdine? Gunriana shot a glance in her direction. It was hard to get the measure of her. A wise woman, with troll's blood, was not someone to take lightly, and the risk of her becoming a rival - water against stone, river-witch against hail-maiden - could not be discounted. The daughters of the fates are rarely friends of one another - they have too much of their mothers' nature.

But that was a matter for another day. Hestor was leading the entourage towards the churchyard. This was no mere burying place. There was but one reason to build a shrine here, with no man's dwelling in sight of it - the place must be sacred, a site of power. A prince might enter such a place recklessly, a rune-shaper, never. Gunriana traced
As on her breast and uttered a brief chant of propitiation for the powers to whom the place was sacred. "Grant us leave and safe passage, Holy Ones. As we come without offence, we will leave without harm".

--------------------
"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

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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Brandon finally opens his eyes and sits up. Fully awake, he now recognises his party members, but still can't remember getting on that horse.

"Y'all, what happened last night? My neck hurts."

(notices they are entering a church yard)

"Ooops. Sorry." (bows head reverently.)

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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IngoB

Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700

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A flicker of a smile crosses Bayani's face as he rummages in his jacket and pulls out a small apple.

"Kid, catch! Breakfast."

He chucks the apple towards Brandon and then turns to close the distance to the prince and his horse again.

--------------------
They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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Brandon sniffs the apple, shrugs, and takes a bite.

"Thanks."

"Hey, if that's a shrine you're building there, ma'am, I can donate some sage to burn in front of it, if you want. Wait, where's my..."

(Rummages in saddle bags.)

[ 07. May 2014, 02:07: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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The blurry grey turned to blurry beige sand-coloured blur. Then he spotted the black pinstripes spinning and bending over the grey-brown background, slowly becoming more and more fastened along nice straight lines. Maybe sheet music on undyed linen. Maybe the boarding of the roof of the caravan. The floor was hard and his body was stiff, but at least he was not as cold or as awake as he would have been had he slept outdoors.

Stone Miller slowly raised his head, leaned on one arm and rolled over to all fours. He sat up, found himself kneeling in front of a crucifix of some sort, hanging on the wall. He grabbed it and tried to pull himself up using the nail on the wall as leverage, but it was made for lighter crosses to bear and he fell down, crucifix in hand, head bumping against the wall with a loud thud and a half-shouted, half-whispered curse. He knew Clawdine would not like it. He placed the crucifix in the usual spot when he did not know where to place things but wanted them out of his hands - in his big curly wild-grown hair. He crawled over to the window and used that to pull himself to his legs. He really, really needed a strengthener.

Stone looked out the window and saw a couple of tombstones arriving at a slow pace. He leaned over a bit too much towards the window and fell a meter and a half down on the dirt road. Again, choked curse. Anyway, church and graveyard approaching. He didn't really know his company but then again he didn't really care. He was a-wandering across the land and a caravan to sleep in was as fine a place as any. Anyway, he would need to make himself useful to someone over the day, at least himself, and make a day of labour of it.

That last hit on the head, by means of blunt dirt road, had gotten him to really wake up. This was another day on the road, another day in need of supplies. He realized the benefit of getting to a graveyard. This was not a bad place for finding things lost by others. From a professional perspective, relieving the dead of copper coins over their eyes was as good as giving the living relief as they averted their eyes with some copper generousity. The dead could usually spare it even more. Stone got a little bit enthusiastic when he thought about the possibilities, and picked up a small stick from the ground beneath a dead oak and began to poke about by the graves. He looked carefully at the tombstones for fancy titles and names as they were usually the ones with the best loot.


Stone Miller attempts scavenging at the graveyard.

--------------------
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Miller ignored the mildly disgusted glances from the others, he thought that his chances of finding something would be ***OK***

[ 07. May 2014, 05:22: Message edited by: Doublethink ]

--------------------
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

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Eliab
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# 9153

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"Miller, do you know which god this place is devoted to? And do you not think you should find out before provoking them?"

--------------------
"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

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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505

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Clawdine watched Brandon unhitch King and lead him up a rise to drink water from a spring bubbling out of the ground above the graveyard. She pitied the stupid ones in the party, who were collecting water from the ditches below the cemetary. Not the girl though. The girl was smart.

She shook her head again and puffed on her pipe. "Hey, 'Tone!" she called in the direction of Stone Miller. "Yer find anythin, yer 'till owe me fer the poteen yer took terday. Clawdine getz haff."

[ 07. May 2014, 06:08: 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.

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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quote:
Originally posted by Eliab:
"Miller, do you know which god this place is devoted to? And do you not think you should find out before provoking them?"

(chomping apple)

"See, that crossed my mind, too. but I guess it's his funeral."

(Sunny smile)

"Hi Clawdine! Want the rest of my apple?"

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Daniel & Arabella lie in the hollow of the ground, cold and tired but too ***vigilant*** and wary after their recent encounter to consider their next move. Daniel knows it would be ***hard*** for him to see anyone approaching. Arabella knows she is likely to hear anyone coming too close ***OK***

--------------------
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

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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505

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Clawdine shook her head. "Give it ter King. He lovet applez. Now, dyer reckon yer could find uz a coney or two for dinner?"

--------------------
Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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Sure thing!

(hops off horse, secures it to caravan and pokes around in shrubbery next to graveyard, ***tracking*** small animal prints)

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Jay-Emm
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# 11411

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(Teswe announced)
I say Hector, wasn't I right to suggest we came this way. It is a most peculiar place.

Teswe then wandered around looking for faults in the care of the churchyard. They might be reported later.

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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Brandon thinks it should be ***OK*** to find something for the pot around here

--------------------
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

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Dafyd
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# 5549

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Daniel thinks about the woman's remark. 'Safe. With me. Well, that depends. We can probably count on the shadows not coming out of the crypt while it's daylight. After nightfall is a bit less certain. There have been attacks on people out at night on their own in the area. Now these creatures = If I remember correctly.' He pauses while he remembers ***occult knowledge*** to work out what the shadows were and why they're in the crypt.

--------------------
we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams

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An die Freude
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# 14794

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quote:
Originally posted by Eliab:
"Miller, do you know which god this place is devoted to? And do you not think you should find out before provoking them?"

"What's yer name and why's it bothering you? I've done this a million times and it ain't ever provoked no gods yet. Maybe your superstition and junior pretenses about our divine hosts will provoke them more than a poor man trying to stay alive! If you don't want me having a look around, feel free to share a few gold coins and a drink and I'll have made my day's worth anyway."

--------------------
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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(thrusting bushes right and left and grumbling)

You know, I see a million little tracks but they all seem to go in circles. See what happens when you let me fall asleep on a horse? I get all discombobulated.

Oh that's not even a track, that's a &^%$v leaf. Gahh. Wish I was old enough to drink coffee.

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Daniel knows it ought to be ***ridiculously easy*** to work out what waylaid them in the crypt.

--------------------
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

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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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"I'm sorry, Clawdine dear, whoever's godding this place, it sure ain't Mammon. Couldn't even find a rock to break the church windows with. This ain't a good sign for Stone, I tell ya. People being so tight-fisted they don't spend money on their dead mother aren't likely to have much over for good quality petty repairs either... And tight-fisted folks make for tight-fisted ghosts... Did anyone have a drink to spare for old Stone, by the way?"

--------------------
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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Still sleepy and out of sorts, Brandon crawls into the back of the caravan.

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984

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Daniel's senses have been on a hair trigger since leaving the crypt. He is suddenly distracted by noises on the wind, a largish party arriving just to the north west, they must be in the church yard.

Daniel is struck by a sudden insight, he knows exactly where he is in relation the arriving party, the church, the crypt. All those years studying old books, maps, directions suddenly seem to click into place. Daniel realises he really can navigate.


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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  |  IP: Logged
Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894

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All this poking around, rustling around in isolated graveyards…if this really is a place of power, as the gloved lady suggested, then best to keep a lookout. The dead rarely stay still in such places once disturbed—best to keep a sharp watch and try to **spot trouble** with the halberd at the ready...

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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  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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ik not like graveyard. graveyard where people go after fight ik, so graveyard full of ik enemies. ik keep eyes open and stay close to squishy girly man (Teswe). father of squishy girly man promise ik much gold to keep squishy girly man alive on journey. ik like much gold, buy many cow and become rich man in home village, maybe do lie-down baby-make with chief's daughter.

ik think curly-hair dust man (Miller) stupid. even ik know not dig up dead people. dead people not like, maybe stand up start fighting. ik see it happen before. ik not care about curly-hair dust man though, ik not be given gold if he stay alive.

ik not worry much about it. if dead people stand up threaten squishy girly man then ik hit with club and they lie down again, stay still.

ik take apple, start eating, keep eyes open.

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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Stone Miller notices that that big fellow who looks rather stupid seems to be thinking a lot and throwing frustrated glances his way. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm not quite a mind reader so if you're thinking low of something I am up to I'm afraid I can't really do much about that unless you choose to open your mouth and let me know that. Respectfully, of course. What's your name, by the way?"

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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
IngoB

Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700

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Bayani sidles over to Jetse.

"Easy there, Guardian. Ghosts don't come come out to play at noon... Time to eat, not fight, no?"

He looks back at the caravan pensively.

"Thing is ... the brat you hired... sleeps all morning, wakes up with a stiff neck, stumbles about on the graveyard, and now is back to sleeping at midday. 50 soldi say that he found Stone's liquor stash, eh?"

Bayani is about to poke Jetse in the ribs, but thinks better of it. Again his eyes travel to the caravan and his jaw slightly clenches and unclenches.

"Wonder how hard that was to find..."

Squatting down he takes his knapsack off, gets out some bread and a hard-boiled egg, and starts to munch. Looking over to the Prince and Hestor, he says

"What are our noble ladies up to now?"

He adds, slightly muffled by vigorous chewing

"And where's Ik anyhow?"

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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear

Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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"ik called ik."

Takes a bite of the apple

"ik think curly-hair dust man not should dig up dead people."

Chewing

"dead people get angry, try make curly-hair dust man dead person too."

Swallows

"ik think maybe curly-hair dust man not like that."

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Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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"My pleasure to meet you, Ik. Thank you for your advice. Usually town dump spirits and castle ruin ghosts don't mind, in my experience, but I can stop now if it makes you feel better. I wasn't finding anything of use anyway. Could you help me think of some better way to afford a lunch around here, though? Apart from robbing kids running around with half-eaten apples?"

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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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"you not have food in blue cart? maybe troll woman give you rock to chew? [Killing me] "

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Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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Stone Miller was somewhat underamused.
"Your jocularity at my expense is much appreciated, dear Ik. Where did you find that apple of yours, by the way? And could I have the remainders once you're done with it?"

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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153

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quote:
Originally posted by JFH:
"What's yer name and why's it bothering you? I've done this a million times and it ain't ever provoked no gods yet. ...

"You have a point there, of course. Why, one only has to look at you scrabbling through manky old bones in a deserted grave-yard in the hope of finding a pewter ring or an old boot-nail with which to buy liquor to see that you could not possibly have done anything to provoke the gods e'er now.

Carry on, then, and good luck to you. I'd suggest severing the heads of those whose rest you violate and laying them at their feet, as an basic precaution, but no doubt the good fortune that has hitherto followed you throughout your life makes such safeguards unnecessary."

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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  |  IP: Logged
Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549

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Daniel sees a group of people arguing with each other. He jumps to his feet and waves. 'Hello. Nice to meet you. Are you the kind of people, who if I were to say "be careful about going into the crypt it's not safe," would go straight into the crypt? I meet more of those kind of people in my line of work than you might think. Not for very long usually.'

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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams

Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

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quote:
Originally posted by JFH:
Stone Miller was somewhat underamused.
"Your jocularity at my expense is much appreciated, dear Ik. Where did you find that apple of yours, by the way? And could I have the remainders once you're done with it?"

"ik get food from squishy girly man. squishy girly man want ik keep him safe, squishy girly man give ik food. it part of deal."

Ik looks at the remainder of the apple in his hand. There's about one good bite left. He lobs it in the general direction of Miller, stands up and strolls casually around for a bit to stretch his legs. The more observant members of the party may note that despite his apparent nonchalance he's keeping a close watch on the prince.

--------------------
Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794

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Stone Miller thankfully runs up to the apple and greedily eats all of it at once, seeds and all. He then looms off, sits down with his back against one of the cartwheels of the caravan and sings a slow song softly to himself.

--------------------
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
IngoB

Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700

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In a smooth but studiously unhurried motion, Bayani picks up his knapsack and stands up. Only a very observant onlooker would have noticed the simultaneous rapid grab to his back, concealed by these large motions - and that his right hand is now holding a dagger in reverse grip, blade resting hidden on the inside of his forearm. His left arm still holds on to the knapsack, arm through the straps, almost like one would carry a shield. Bayani starts to walk towards the prince with long but casual strides, apparently ignoring the stranger.

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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear

Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153

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quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
'Hello. Nice to meet you. Are you the kind of people, who if I were to say "be careful about going into the crypt it's not safe," would go straight into the crypt? I meet more of those kind of people in my line of work than you might think. Not for very long usually.'

Gunriana considers this. There didn't seem to be anywhere nearby that the stranger might have been visiting except for the crypt. That his first thought had been that others needed to be warned off was curious, although possibly explained if he had seen Miller poking around in the dirt.

"Your warning is most appreciated, sir. I am Gunriana De Vanés. May I enquire as to your name and line of work?"

[ 07. May 2014, 10:49: Message edited by: Eliab ]

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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  |  IP: Logged
Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505

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Clawdine looked at the boy asleep in the back porch of the caravan,
and Stone Millar half asleep against her cart wheel, and decided she needed to do something about dinner herself. Above her half a dozen ducks were flying high to the west.

"Well, Clawdine," she muttered to herself, "you'm be very good at the fishin' and the duck huntin' and you'm be the best one ter catch 'em if'n we're gonna eat at all, at all. Best ter get yer fishin' skin on."

*** rolls a 6***

Had any of the main party been watching they would have seen a naked and shapely young woman leap over the boy and disappear out the back of the blue caravan in less time than it took to blink.

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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  |  IP: Logged
Autenrieth Road

Shipmate
# 10509

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Arabella had been trying to be vigilant, but the warm noonday sun and the security of the trustworthy stranger by her side had lulled her to sleep. She emerged slowly from a dream in which she was living more of FictA's backstory: far too many relationships with men which Ended Badly. As she emerged to consciousness, in that moment when you realize that it was a dream, and not Reality, she thought contentedly "Thank goodness Life is not imitating Art in this case."

In the next moment, she realized that the stranger was no longer at her side, and that there was noise all around. And now she noticed the gravestones, all around the depression in the ground where she and the stranger had sheltered.

What on earth was going on? Best to see how long she could stay hidden behind this ripple of a fold of earth, and see what she could find out by observing. She suspected that eventually she would have to show herself, or be discovered by one of the increasingly noisy members of this invasive (if not invading) party, but for now she chose to quietly observe.

--------------------
Truth

Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Gwai
Shipmate
# 11076

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Jerthro roused himself and hurried off to join the others. He announces rather to no one in particular:

"I heard you all talking about food. I brought a saucepan, if we need it to cook anything in. And a kettle, and I think a frying pan, but I might have forgotten that one. I know I have a butcher knife so that I don't have to use my dagger.

By the way, I'd be careful about splitting up too far. In sto...In the last fight I was in, it didn't work out too well."

--------------------
A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.


Posts: 11914 | From: Chicago | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged



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