Iron Heroes: A Saga of Might

[Dr Simon]

"Um...," Clem looks non-plussed. He's a man used to following orders and now he's been given two conflicting commands. "I think you'll need to discuss that with the Captain," he says. "I just bought them up here."

Olmar isn't the only one who objects to the presence of the ur-men.

"Ho now, what's this?" says the innkeeper. "I'm not having the likes of them in my tavern. There's folks round here who haven't forgotten the Great Sack of '29. There'll be space for them in The Brig." The way he says it suggests that The Brig is a specific place rather than a generic term.

The two ur-men turn their sightless flat-nosed grey faces in the direction of Xoria. They seem to be waiting for something.

 

[mfloyd3]

Xoria looks at the onlookers, then at the two Ur Men. She speaks in Ur.

"Give me a reason I should not let the townspeople lock you away," she tells them. "Or let my companion kill you. Both have cause."

 

[Walking Dad]

"What is this 'Brig'?" Olmar asks, oblivious to the Ur-Men's attention to Xoria.

 

[Dr Simon]

"Over there," the innkeeper replies to Olmar. He points to a rocky outcrop across the other side of town, where a small barred gate and window have been set into the rockface. "It's our town lock-up."

The ur-men turn their heads in unison towards Xoria. The slightly taller of the two rasps something in their grating language.

[sblock=Ur]
"There iz no reazon. We are your captivez and we are damaged, it iz right for you to dizpoze of uz. But... we are curiouz about you. You are the inheritor of Montor Roth. We would dizlike to die without knowing more."
[/sblock]

 

[mfloyd3]

Xoria replies in the guttural Ur language, hoping to keep the conversation brief. She clearly expects the barbarian will quickly lose patience with the exchange.

[sblock=Ur]
"Who was Montor Roth to you? He believed himself forgotten to your people."
[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

"They aren't dangerous," Vela murmurs. Something about their blind, yet unwavering, 'gaze' makes her uneasy. "They could be good laborers, if the town needs such. I suppose we can speak with the men at 'the Brig' to find out more."

The former prisoners were a complicated issue for her. Saving their lives meant they owed a debt...a debt none were equipped to pay, and that Vela had no desire to see met. Saving their lives also incurred a bond of responsibility...One did not offer a man water, only to leave him to bandits. One did not guide a man through the waste only to sit silently as a death scorpion crawled into his boot. In short, when you took responsibility for someone's life, the responsibility did not end until they were again capable of safeguarding it themselves.

Leaving them in an inn in a town beset by cursed monsters didn't sit right with Vela. But in truth, it was the best they could do. What else? Drag them alongside into the wizard's den? The inn would be safe enough for now.

The conversation between the Ur-Men and Xoria brought Vela out of her pensive introspection and sent a chill down her back. What were they saying? And how far did she trust Xoria? Might her allegiance lie with the other wizard? Or even if not, would she come to crave his power once he was bested and unleash new horrors?

With a scowl she yanked herself away and prowled out the inn door restlessly. Her fears were growing too strong, too numerous. Vela took a breath and concentrated on herself, her own body. Her heartbeat, her heat, the motion of blood, the dozen tiny little tics and flutters of muscles. The thin ache in her feet . The cool caress of a breeze through her hair. She was real. Her fears were conjurings of her imagination.

She didn't think Xoria would betray them, but if she did then Vela would fight her, as she would any other betrayer. The rescuees from the Conch had to be looked after, but the burden was not hers alone, and Xoria especially seemed to have ideas about how to deal with them. There was no shame in deferring to the wisdom of someone familiar with the land one was in. And she was presumably just telling the Ur-Men what was in store for them. That was one sacrifice Vela was prepared to make, custom be damned.

 

[Dr Simon]

The two ur-men reply to Xoria. The shorter one says something and the taller one seems to cut him off quickly.

[sblock=Ur]
"Zome of uz ztill remember our creator," says the taller ur-man.

"And there are zome of our kind who zeek hiz powerz for themzelvez," says the smaller."

"We do not zpeak of them," says the taller ur-man quickly.
[/sblock]

This seems to be all they are willing to say. Their piece said, they stand impassively awaiting their fate.

 

[mfloyd3]

Xoria considers. The Ur Men have knowledge that may be of some use to her, but the good will of her comrades and the townsfolk mattered more. The Ur Men were surely tough enough to survive a few days in the Brig, particularly if she slipped their guards a few coin to see to it they were not too heavily abused. And perhaps after a few days of that, they would be willing to give her more information in exchange for bettering their position.

"If the people of the town believe the Ur Men belong in the Brig, so be it," she says. The sorceress turns to Olmar. "I do not believe we will convince the captain to take the humans or the Ur Men with him when he leaves. Even if we agreed to pay for the provisions they eat, where would he leave them? You can speak to him if you like, but I think we will have to decide in the end whether we alone wish to care for them or abandon them."

 

[Walking Dad]

Olmar
Defense 14 (FF14), HP 48/48, F +6,R+5,W+5; Ini +2 ; Fury Pool 0/13; DR 1d4

"Their are tasks blind people can learn to provide for themselves, like weaving. We will try to give them a start and then leave them behind. If we find some miracle to heal them we will return. But our life is to dangerous to drag them alongside us."
Olmar explains.

[sblock=OOC]


----

Reserve Points: 48 / 48

Pick (gripped with both hand and Power attack 1):
1d20+5 - 1d6+6 - 20/x4

In berserker rage:
1d20+6 - 1d6+8 - 20/x4
[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

The humans are safely ensconced in the Ferryman Inn whilst you take the ur-men over to The Brig. This is little more than a cave cut into the cliff-face, with a heavy wooden outer door, a barred inner door and then two cells, also barred. The jailer lives in a slightly better cave next door, and grumbles and moans about being disturbed to lock up ur-men but a couple of copper coins towards their upkeep makes him happy (or as happy as it looks like he ever is).

[sblock=OOC]
Loose ends tied up for now, I can move on to the approach to Tizon Thane's abode, although the characters now have some money and the opportunity to buy some equipment should you wish.
[/sblock]